verbalise about a hard nut to crack ! Not even the black walnut is hard to crack than the macadamia testicle . But that has n’t stopped high up - priced macadamias from garnering almost mythical status among nut connoisseur . And the tropical macadamia ( Macadamia spp . ) Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree they rise on ) are as lovely as they are moneymaking .
Ancient Habitat
Today ’s macadamia trees go down from ancestors that grew in the lovesome , slopped rainforest of central Queensland . Fossilized pollen from those Tree go out spinal column some 50 million year , when the rainforests cut across most of Queensland ’s eastern coast .
Archaeological digs near northeast Queensland ’s Mulgrave River indicate that Australia ’s First Nations were consume macadamia tree nuts more than 60 thousand years ago . But the last Ice Age deoxidise the wild trees ‘ grow range to a few patches along the Queensland rainforests ’ Pacific fringes .
Macadamias in the Wild Today
Australia ’s wild macadamia tree population grow at elevations up to 2300 foot ( 700 metre ) where annual rain exceed 39.4 inch ( 1000 mm ) . They thrive in a variety of rainforest soils from bumpy scree slopes to mineral - plentiful rich volcanic ash . It ’s common to find cluster of the trees in one area , while equally worthy area has none .
Expert gardener ’s crest : One suggest intellect for the clustering substance abuse is that none of the aboriginal wildlife has jaws strong enough crack up the eggshell and disperse the addict .
Cultivation History
Queensland ’s British settler discovered macadamia nuts in 1857 . Hawaii ’s kale cane raiser import their first macadamia trees as windbreaks in 1881 . But it take up until the 1950s to master the grafting and processing proficiency necessary for commercialisation . In 2017 , worldwide production add up 170,000 slews of in - shell testicle , closely all of it from Australia , South Africa , Hawaii and Central America .
Expert gardener ’s tip : For an theme of why the nuts are so costly , compare those figures to the globalalmond harvestof more than 1 million tons .
Macadamias in the Mainland U.S.
In addition to class - bout rainfall , macadamia trees take mild , Robert Lee Frost - free winters . Just like pistachio , they ’re suitable for USDA industrial plant hardiness zona 9 through 11 . You ’ll chance commercial plantings in coastal California and south and central Florida .
Macadamias as Ornamentals
Even if they did n’t give us the public ’s most expensive nuts , macadamia trees merit to be embed just for show . Their ornamental features admit :
Do n’t live in a macadamia - friendly USDA geographical zone ? give pots heavy enough to reconcile their roots and a sunny indoor shelter during wintertime , macadamia tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree make very felicitous container plants .
