candlenut an edible nut borne by the large tree Aleurites moluccana. This is native to the region of E. Malaysia but is now cultivated from India to the Philippines and in the Pacific islands. It bears a round, hard fruit up to 10 cm (2") in diameter with a wrinkled papery outer wrapping and tough inner coat enclosing either one or two waxy white kernels. These bear some resemblance to walnuts and are therefore sometimes called Indian or Tahiti walnuts. The Malay name is buah keras (hard nut) and the Indonesian is kemiri.
