CAT-00054
Rough-shell macadamia
Macadamia tetraphylla
Catalog fields
- Genus
- Macadamia
- Photo
- Not recorded
- Edible
- Yes
- layout
- single
- Habitat
- Grows in rainforest.
- Published
- Yes
- Food group
- Nut / seed
- Latin name
- Macadamia tetraphylla
- Fruit photo
- Not recorded
- Plant title
- Rough-shell macadamia
- Source URLs
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Macadamia%20tetraphylla | https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/bushfoodintro.htm; https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?lvl=sp&name=Macadamia~tetraphylla&page=nswfl Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗ Open source 3 ↗
- Catalogue ID
- CAT-00054
- Mature width
- Not confirmed; allow spread appropriate to growth habit
- Native range
- Rare, extending from northern N.S.W. to south-eastern Qld.
- Plant family
- Proteaceae
- Supplier SKU
- Not recorded
- Listing group
- Common bush-food crop
- Mature height
- Up to 15 m
- Native states
- NSW, QLD
- Original list
- No
- Research date
- 10/10/2026
- Research notes
- Source is a nursery catalogue overview; detailed species verification remains. Profile enriched from botanical/nursery sources. Dimensions are unpruned regional estimates where available; missing measurements remain explicit. Seasons are regional guides and vary with climate, location, cultivar and plant maturity. Drought and cultivation guidance are qualitative garden inferences, not measured ratings.
- Evidence status
- Nursery food-use listing; species detail review pending
- Fruiting season
- January ripe fruit noted in NSW flora; varies by cultivar.
- Background photo
- Not recorded
- Edible component
- Nut kernel
- Flowering season
- August-October in NSW flora.
- Brief description
- Evergreen nut tree with prickly leaves commonly in whorls of four.
- Drought tolerance
- Moderate; water for crop development.
- Preparation notes
- Remove husk and crack shell; eat kernel of verified edible species/cultivar.
- Flower description
- Cream to pink or mauve flowers on hanging racemes.
- General cultivation
- General guidance (qualitative): Good prospect with space, drainage and irrigation.
- Botanical description
- Tree 3–18 m high, often branched near base. Adult leaves in whorls of (3–) 4 (–5); petiole 0–4 mm long; lamina oblong to oblanceolate, 7–30 cm long, 1.4–6 cm wide, semi-glossy above, paler below, rigidly coriaceous, sparsely pilose, glabrescent; bases truncate, attenuate to abruptly attenuate; margin weakly undulate, antrorsely spinose; apices acute or subacute, sometimes mucronate; midrib prominent above and below. Conflorescence simple; rachis 5.5–38 cm long; bracts ovate, 0.2–1.4 mm long. Tepals 5.5–15 mm long, 0.35–0.6 mm wide, cream or pink, free or coherent. Filaments 4-10 mm long, adnate to tepals for 3–8 mm. Anthers 0.8–2.5 mm long. Ovary shortly stipitate, 0.2-1.2 mm long, 0.4-1 mm wide; style 7–12 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm diam. Fruit globose, 2.4–5 cm long, 1.5–5 cm wide; pericarp 2–9 mm thick. Seeds 2.6–3 cm long, 1.6–2.4 cm wide; testa wrinkled to smooth, 2–6 mm thick.
- Other botanical names
- Not recorded
- Attracts birds and bugs
- Native bees and insects visit flowers; canopy shelters birds.
- Flora of Australia profile
- https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Macadamia%20tetraphylla Open source ↗
- Fruit type and description
- Green-brown husk surrounds a rough hard shell and edible kernel.
- Flora of Australia citation
- C.L.Gross. Macadamia tetraphylla. Flora of Australia, Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Macadamia%20tetraphylla (accessed 2026-10-14). Copyright Commonwealth of Australia; CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). HTML formatting removed; species-level context added where noted. Open source ↗ Open source 2 ↗
- Flora of Australia retrieved
- 14/10/2026