CMS: The Macadamia

THE MACADAMIA

For the most of us, Hawaii and the macadamia are synonymous, but did you know; the macadamia is native to Australia. In fact it is the only commercial food crop that is native to Australia. The colonization of Australia by the British began in 1788 with the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay. But it was not until 1875 that the recorded history of the macadamia began. Ferdinand Von Muller, Royal Botanist at Melbourne and Walter Hill, Director of the Botany Garden at Brisbane, were botanizing in the forest along the Pine River in the Moreton Bay district of Queensland. They discovered a species of tree in the family Proteaceae previously unknown to European and American Botanists. This species did not fit into any previously established genera in that family, so in 1858 Muller established a new genus, Macadamia, naming it in honor of John Macadam, MD, Secretary of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria.

Of course, the British were not the first inhabitants of Australia. At the time of their arrival Australia was inhabited by a primitive people who are generally referred to as "aborigines." Their whole population numbered around 300,000. Their food consisted mainly of fish, shellfish, turtle eggs, grubs of certain tree bark insects, kangaroo, koala, wombat, bandicoot, other small animals and birds, plus yams, and grass seeds. However, during the months of fall and winter (March to June), they would come from far and near to congregate on the eastern slopes of the Great Divide Range. Here they would feast on the seeds of two kinds of trees which were abundant in the area. One kind of tree they called "BunyaBunya", and the other they called "kindalKindal". The former we now know botanically as Araucaria bidwillii, the latter as the Macadamia.

The macadamia genus consists of at least ten species, but only two of those produce edible nuts, the Integrifolia and the Tetraphylla. The macadamia was introduced into California in late 1877 by Professor C. H. Dwinelle of the University of California at Berkeley. He obtained seeds from Australia and planted several seedlings along Strawberry Creek on the Berkeley campus, and at least one of those trees is still growing in its original site. The next year the Macadamia was introduced into Hawaii by Walter H. Perves, manager of the Honokoa Sugar Company at Haina, Hawaii. The Hawaiians then proceeded to become the mainstay for creating a public awareness of the Macadamia and they currently (1995) have 22,000 acres planted in Macadamias. The first large planting of Macadamias occurred in 1890 on the Frederickson Estate at Rouse Mills, New South Wales. They planted around 250 trees as a source of nuts for the family. Many of those trees still exist and are still producing a good crop of nuts.

Around 1910, two nurserymen, Ernest Braunton and Charles Knowlton, started selling seedling trees in Southern California. But, it was not until 1946 that a commercial planting finally occurred in California. Robert W. Todd planted two acres of seedling trees on his property on Grandview Street in Oceanside. Several years later those trees were grafted, and today, over 100 of them are still there and still producing that King of the Nut World.

Interestingly enough, the largest single planting of macadamia trees is on 3,700 acres in Komatipoort, South Africa. Additionally, macadamias are grown commercially in Hawaii, Australia, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Israel, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, and many other tropical and subtropical regions, including Florida.

The macadamia is grown in California from San Luis Obispo south to the Mexican border, west of the mountains. The primary limiting factor is temperature. Macadamia trees can take temperatures as low as 28 degrees for up to about four hours, plus they start to get stressed around 1Q5 degrees. Southern California has in the neighborhood of 2,500 acres planted to the macadamia.

The California Macadamia Society publishes an Annual Yearbook and a Quarterly Newsletter. Both are mailed to all members of the Society. Membership in the Society is $17.50 for a individual membership and $20.00 for a family membership. To join, send a check for the correct amount to:

CALIFORNIA MACADAMIA SOCIETY
P. O. Box 1298
Fallbrook, California 92088
(760) 728-8081