Nut of note: 70% of world's macadamia can be traced back to single Australian tree

[Judi Lynn]

New research shows a single 19th century tree in southern Queensland gave rise to the world’s dominant plant variety

Naaman Zhou

@naamanzhou
Fri 31 May 2019 18.00 EDT Last modified on Fri 31 May 2019 18.30 EDT

The small Queensland town of Gympie has been identified as the origin of 70% of the world’s macadamia nuts.

New research into the fatty seed has revealed the world’s dominant commercial cultivar – grown in Hawaii – originated from a single tree in southern Queensland from the 19th century.

Native to Australia, macadamia trees are only found naturally in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales. The Hawaiian macadamia industry was grown from one cultivar from Australia that was repeatedly cloned.

This means the commercial macadamia tree has an incredibly low genetic diversity, and researchers hope their findings will spur the discovery of wild trees and more “novel genes”.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jun/01/nut-of-note-70-of-worlds-macadamia-come-from-single-australian-tree

[Chin music]

1. That's nutty.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Aussies pulling our collective legs.

[Igel]

3. Perhaps.

Or maybe they're just warning us that it'd be really easy to kick us in our nuts.