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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Aleurites moluccana'' (PROSEA)}}
[[File:Aleurites moluccana PROSEA linedrawing.png|thumb|1, fruiting branch; 2, leaf of young tree; 3, fruit (longitudinal section); 4, "nut" (front view); 5, "nut" (side view); 6, "nut" (longitudinal section)]]
<big>''[[Aleurites moluccana]]'' (L.) Willd.</big>
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==Uses==
The seed of ''A. moluccana'' ("kemiri"") is an indispensable spice in Indonesian cuisine, possessing little flavour of its own, but mainly acting as an enhancer. Raw, or briefly roasted, it is added to numerous dishes in small quantities, pounded and mixed with other ingredients. Raw seed is slightly poisonous, acting as a laxative.
The fatty seed oil (lumbang oil) is used industrially (in paints, varnishes, linoleum, soap manufacture, wood preservation), for illumination (lamp oil, candles) and medicinally (mild purgative, embrocation for sciatica, against hair loss), but not for cooking. The oil is also used in the batik industry. For illumination, the oily kernels can be burnt as such, or pounded and made into candles.
In Indonesia the residual oil cake is sometimes processed into a snack-food called "dage kemiri"": the oil cake is pounded, soaked for 48 hours in running water, steamed, and stored for 48 hours in a dark place to ferment (covered with a banana leaf with a weight on top of it to press out remaining liquid). The oil cake is an excellent organic fertilizer rich in N and P, but is not recommended as animal feed because of its toxic effects. A. moluccana is a commonly planted tree in villages, and is also used for reafforestation. It grows well in fields infested with sedge and can help suppress the weed. The wood is rather light and not very durable. Though not used for construction, it is used to make furniture, small utensils and matches where it is abundant. It is suitable for paper pulp.
In traditional medicine the seed is used as a laxative, pulped kernels are used in poultices to treat headache, fevers, ulcers, swollen joints and constipation, the bark is used to treat dysentery, the bark sap (mixed with coconut milk) to treat sprue, a decoction of young leaves to treat scrophulosis, and boiled leaves are applied externally to treat headache and gonorrhoea.
==Production and international trade==
In Indonesia, there is a considerable internal trade in kemiri nuts, mainly with Java as the destination. In the late 1980s, annual exports of kemiri were in the order of 400--600 t with a total value of US$ 200*000--500*000. Kemiri is traded and transported as "nuts"". At the retail level, small quantities of kemiri are marketed as seed (hard endocarp removed).
Early in the 20th Century, some seed oil (lumbang oil) was exported from the Philippines to the United States for industrial use in paints and soaps.
The moderate toxicity of the seed has been ascribed to a toxalbumin similar to the ones in ''Abrus'' Adans. and ''Ricinus'' L.
The "nut" weight is 10--14 g; it is made up of shell (endocarp) for 65-70%, and seed (kernel) for 30-35%.
==Adulterations and substitutes==
==Growth and development==
''A. moluccana'' first flowers when it is about 4 years old. Flowering can occur year-round. Fruits need 3--4 months to develop and mature. In the Philippines, trees reached 12.5 m in height and 15 cm in diameter, in 8 years.
==Other botanical information==
== Yield ==
Yield estimates of ''A. moluccana'' vary from 2500-15*000 "nuts" per tree per year, or 25-150 kg (at a "nut"-weight of 10 g). This corresponds to 8-50 kg kernels per tree per year, or 5-30 kg oil per tree per year.
== Handling after harvest ==
Since it is difficult to crack the "nuts" of ''A. moluccana'', a combination of mechanical (hammering) and physical (successive heating and cooling) methods is usually applied. The best quality "nuts" for use as a spice are obtained by sun-drying for 5--10 days, followed by mechanical cracking.
"Nuts" may be stored for over a year without appreciable change in the amount and composition of the oil. Seeds (kernels) cannot be stored for long, since they are attacked by small beetles, and the oil acidifies.
* Semangun, H., 1988. Penyakit-penyakit tanaman perkebunan di Indonesia [Diseases of estate crops in Indonesia]. Gadjah Mada University Press, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. p. 335.
* Tapa Darma, I.G.K., 1993. Identifikasi jamur "blue stain" yang menyerang berbagai jenis kayu [Identification of the blue-stain fungus attacking several timber species]. Technical Notes, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University 5(1): 27--32.
== Sources of illustrations ==
Brown, W.H., 1941-1943. Useful plants of the Philippines. Vol. 2. Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Technical Bulletin 10. Bureau of Printing, Manila, the Philippines. (reprint, 1951--1957). Fig. 143, p. 282 (fruit, nuts); Ochse, J.J. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1980. Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies. 3rd English edition (translation of "Indische groenten", 1931). Asher & Co., Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Fig. 169, p. 261 (fruiting branch); Siemonsma, J.S., 1998. Collection of photographs (leaf of young tree). Redrawn and adapted by P. Verheij-Hayes.
== Authors ==
*J.S. Siemonsma
[[Category:Spices (PROSEA)]]
[[Category:PROSEA]]