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Pili nut (Canarium ovatum) is a part of the Burseraceae family and native to the Philippines.

Pili is dioecious.

(Include in "introduction")
There are other Canarium species that produce nuts similar to pili nuts such as C. album that are eaten as olives.

Cultivation and uses
"In the Philippines, pili is used in candies and brittle."(from article). Research from the Institute of Plant Breeding, University of the Philippines at Los Banos describe pili nuts of high quality as large, round kernel, and a thin pulp and shell. The contents should have a white pulp, high in protein and oils with mild nutty flavor.

Propagation (placed before "Future prospects")
Pili can be propagated by seed, marcotting, patch budding, cleft grafting, air layering, and inarching. Germination by seed takes about 30 to 80 days, and in about three to four years, they can reach a juvenile height of about 2 meters. The trees are expected to start fruiting after 5 to 6 years from seedlings reaching economic yield in the 10th year. Though propagation by seedlings are most common, asexual propagation is becoming more preferred due to producing more female plants, removal of the juvenile period, and uniformity of the genetics. Though to preserve genetic variability, seedlings are still created by sexual reproduction. Marcotting and air layering are the simplest of asexual propagation methods for pili, though success can range from 0 to 100%. This issue comes from the branch unsuccessfully rooting after severing from the mother tree. Commercially, cleft or wedge grafting is used with rootstocks in large containers or directly in the field with defoliated budsticks during the months between November and February in the Philippines when it is cool and dry having an average success of 85%. Patch budding is found to be the most efficient for large-scale propagation work. Similarly to cleft or wedge grafting, the rootstocks are well watered and fertilized and the defoliated budwoods are cultivated from young, actively growing trees. This is also done in the months between November and February in the Philippines having a success rate as high as 75 to 80%.

Directly from article: Distribution and habitat
"Pili is a tropical tree preferring deep, fertile, well drained soil, warm temperatures, and well distributed rainfall. It cannot tolerate the slightest frost or low temperature. Refrigeration of seeds at 4 to 13 °C (39 to 55 °F) resulted in loss of viability after 5 days. Seed germination is highly recalcitrant, reduced from 98 to 19% after 12 weeks of storage at room temperature; seeds stored for more than 137 days did not germinate. Asexual propagations using marcotting, budding, and grafting were too inconsistent to be used in commercial production. Young shoots of pili were believed to have functional internal phloems, which rendered bark ringing ineffective as a way of building up carbohydrate levels in the wood. Success in marcottage may be cultivar-dependent. Production standards for a mature pili tree is between 100 to 150 kg (220 to 330 lb) of in-shell nut with the harvest season from May to October and peaking between June and August. There are high variations in kernel qualities and production between seedling trees."