Macadamia Nut

The seeds are edible.

Trees 5-18 m tall. Leaves mostly in whorls of 3; petiole 4-18 mm; leaf blade oblong to oblanceolate, 5-15 × 2-6.5 cm, leathery, base attenuate, margin irregularly spiny toothed or entire, apex acute to obtuse and sometimes retuse. Inflorescences axillary, simple, 8.5-25 cm, sparingly puberulous; bracts of flower pairs ovate, 0.5-5 mm. Pedicel 3-4 mm. Perianth white or yellowish, 5-11 mm, pilose. Anthers 0.7-2.2 mm. Ovary and base of style brownish villous. Fruit globose, 2-4.5 cm in diam.; pericarp 2-6 mm thick. Seed usually 1, testa bony, smooth. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Jul-Aug.

Cultivated. Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, Yunnan [native to Australia; cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental or fruit tree].