The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Dioon spinulosum
Also called Mexican Dioon, Gum Palm
Giant dioon is a slow-growing cycad from limestone cliffs and rainforest in Mexico, one of the tallest cycads, usually 3 to 6 m tall in cultivation. Key to growing it is well-drained soil, bright conditions and protection from cold.
Dioon spinulosum, giant dioon or spiny dioon, is a cycad endemic to limestone cliffs and rocky hillsides in the tropical rainforests of Veracruz and Oaxaca, Mexico. It is one of the tallest cycads in the world, growing to 16 meters in height. The tree is found at low elevations to 300 meters above sea level.
Dioon spinulosum prefers well-drained soil with regular water. It will grow in soils containing few nutrients, in soils rich in limestone, and on slopes.
In cultivation it is slow growing, and has a medium tolerance for salt. It is cold hardy in USDA zones 9B to 11.
Dioon spinulosum is found wild in the Mexican states of Oaxaca and Veracruz in a total of three locations. It was more widely distributed in the past, but now grows in the lowlands of the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. It grows on limestone hills and cliffs in the tropical evergreen rainforest there. It can be found at altitudes of 30 to 300 meters (100 to 980 ft) above sea level. It is typically a part of the understory with only a few individuals emerging from the forest canopy.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dioon spinulosum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
