Aleurites moluccana, the Candle nut, is a flowering tree. Its other names are Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree and Kuki nut tree.

The nut is round, 4–6 cm in diameter; the seed inside has a very hard seed coat and a high oil content, which allows its use as a candle.

Kemiri is the name of the nut used in Indonesian cuisine and buah keras in Malay. It is used to make a thick sauce that is eaten with vegetables and rice in Java and Indonesia.

Outside of Southeast Asia, macadmia nuts are substituted when candle nuts are not available. They have similar oil content and texture when pounded. But candle nut is more bitter in taste.

Several parts of the plant have been used in traditional medicine in most of the areas where it is native. The oil is an irritant and a laxative like Castor oil.

Candle nut oil is used in hair treatment system. In Japan the bark is used on tumors. In Malaya pulped kernels are used to treat fever, ulcer and swollen joints. In Java the bark is used for diarrhea and dysentery.

kukui nuts were burned to provide light in ancient Hawaii. The nuts were strung in a row on a palm leaf midrib, lit one end, and burned one by one every 15 minutes or so.

This led to their use as a measure of time. One could instruct someone to return home before the second nut burned out.

Hawaiians also had many other uses. Ink for tattoos were obtained from charred nuts and a varnish with the oil. A red-brown dye is made from the inner bark.

The ripe nuts are pounded into a paste, and used as soap or shampoo in Tonga. Their scent was also used for making various sweet smelling oils for the skin.

Modern cultivation is mostly for the oil. Each tree will produce 30–80 kg of nuts, and the nuts yield 15 to 20% of their weight in oil. Most of the oil is used locally rather than in international trade.