Tropical Gardening: Macadamia leaves substitute for Christmas holly in Hawaii

Courtesy of VOLTAIRE MOISE

The macadamia family includes more than a thousand species, including silky oak, protea and stenocarpus, or Australian pinwheel tree. Leaves and flowers often are used in holiday decoration.

Some folks on the mainland think of macadamia nut trees are native to Hawaii, but here we know it is an Australian tree that we adopted as our own.