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Aleurites moluccana

Aleurites moluccana English: Light nut tree; Kukuinut tree; Kemiri nut tree. Family: Euphorbiaceae (spurge family). Order: Malpighiales. This fast-growing, evergreen tree, with its whitish-hairy, lobed leaves – which shimmer with a dull silvery sheen as they dance in the wind – and its raceme-like inflorescences, conveys a sense of lightness. The trees are monoecious, with separate male and female flowers. The tree’s spherical fruits have a thick green shell, inside which lie one or two stone-like, wrinkled nuts. Since 1959, kukui – which means ‘joy’ or ‘light’ – has been the state symbol of Hawaii. The flowers and leaves were used to make leis, whilst the nut shells were used for dyeing. The highly oily nuts were formerly roasted and impaled on sticks to be used as torches; later, oil lamps provided the light. The fine soot, scraped from the stones of a kukui nut fire and mixed with oil and coconut milk, formed the basis for the earliest tattoos in Tahiti and Polynesia. Until around 1970, tattoos were part of the initiation rites for young men in Western Samoa. The roasted, ground nuts form the basis of many curry pastes. Kukuinut oil has a particularly high content of unsaturated fatty acids, such as linoleic and linolenic acids. It is easily absorbed by the skin and is particularly suitable for dry and stressed skin. The oil supports the body’s production of its own epidermal ceramides. In ethnomedicine, it was used to treat neurodermatitis, psoriasis, acne and eczema, as well as being used as an oil for Lomi Lomi massages. The sap from young twigs was generally used to