Argus pheasant tree (Dracontomelon dao) is a large tropical canopy tree in the cashew family, grown mainly for its timber and shade rather than as a garden or houseplant. It needs a hot, humid, frost-free climate and plenty of room to grow to its full height.
Family
Anacardiaceae (Cashew family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly while young; established trees tolerate seasonal dry spells.
Soil
Deep, fertile, well-drained soil.
Temperature
22–34 °C; protect from frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
Arunachal Pradesh to S. China and Solomon Is.
Climate
wet tropical
About
Dracontomelon dao, the Argus pheasant-tree, Pacific walnut, Papuan walnut, New Guinea walnut, paldao or simply dao, is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae, native to tropical Asia.
Where it grows
Dracontomelon dao is found in the tropical forests of: peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, the Philippines, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, the Maluku Islands, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, the south Andaman Islands, the Nicobar Islands, eastern India, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The species also occurs in southern China and Fiji.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dracontomelon dao 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.