Aleurites moluccanus, commonly known as candlenut, is a tree in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It grows to about 30 m (98 ft) tall and produces drupe fruit.

First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, the species' origin is unclear due to its spread by humans, but it can be found in many tropical rainforests and gallery forests. Various parts of the plant have regional or cultural uses.

The candlenut (Hawaiian name Kukui) grows to a height of up to 30 m (98 ft), with wide spreading or pendulous branches. The leaves are pale green, simple, and ovate or heart-shaped on mature shoots, but may be three-, five-, or seven-lobed on saplings. They are up to 20 cm (8 in) long and 13 cm (5 in) wide and young leaves are densely clothed in rusty or cream stellate hairs. Petioles measure up to 12.5 cm (5 in) long and stipules about 5 mm (1⁄4 in).

The flowers are small; male flowers measure around 5 mm in diameter, female flowers about 9 mm.

The fruit is a drupe about 4–6 cm (1+1⁄2–2+1⁄4 in) in diameter with one or two lobes; each lobe has a single soft, white, oily kernel contained within a hard shell about 2 cm (3⁄4 in) in diameter. These nuts, upon germinating, produce cotyledons or seed leaves up to 9 cm (3.5 in) long by 5.5 cm (2.2 in) wide.

This plant was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum (1753) as Jatropha moluccana. It was renamed as Aleurites moluccana by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in an 1805 edition of Species Plantarum, but the ending was corrected to match the gender of the Latin genus Aleurites moluccanus.

While there are many online references to the spelling "Aleurites moluccana", this is not accepted by botanical authorities such as the International Plant Names Index or the Germplasm Resources Information Network.

The genus name derives from the Ancient Greek ἄλευρον (áleuron), meaning "flour" or "meal", and refers to the new growth which appears to be dusted with flour. The species epithet means "from the Moluccas".