This is about 6 inches high at the moment. It is a Candle Nut seedling. It would eventually end up as rainforest tree approx. 30m high - except that it planted itself on our driveway....
@fbailey Hi FB - Too late I'm afraid - he's gone!! WE have two of the mature trees and they drop lots of very large Candle Nuts ( they used to be used as candles by the pioneers - they threaded them on a string to burn) The trees are too big to have any more grow in their area - so life expectancy for the little fellows is not very long!! Cheers Rob
@robz If you're into Asian cooking that's a good idea Rob. I keep mine in a well-washed cream bottle in the fridge, they seem to last for ages in there and not go rancid.
@golftragic I just checked the links you gave me - unfortunately I don't know the scientific name of our trees - the seeds were just given to us by a friend. It might be a bit risky to try them as they did mention that there is a look alike that is quite toxic. I'll try to find an identification key, :)
Nice close-up .. I like the shape of the leaves.
I use them as thickening in some Asian dishes, the Indonesians are very fond of them. http://www.culinarylore.com/specialty-foods:candlenuts-in-southeast-asian-cooking