ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of petroleum nuts. Called petroleum nuts because of the fancied resemblance of the odor of the fruit's oil to that of petroleum, the fruits, even green ones, burn brilliantly when ignited. Hence, they are used like torch nuts or candlenuts for illumination in the bush. Dihydroterpene is used in perfumes and medicines. The FORI Director in the Philippines is actively collecting superior germplasm in the high mountains of Bontoc and Benguet where they abound, especially in elfin forests. In the Philippines, petroleum nut is locally known in Benguet as apisang, abkol, abkel, and langis; in the Mountain Province, dael and dingo, and in Abra, sagaga. Seeds and cutting can be used to propagate the tree. Seeds may lose their vitality rather rapidly.
