Filicium decipiens is a fern-leaved evergreen tree from East Africa, Madagascar, India and Sri Lanka, grown as an ornamental shade tree in warm regions. It needs a frost-free, warm climate with reasonable water and full sun to partial shade.
Family
Sapindaceae (Soapberry & maple family)
Grows as
Tree, Fern
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water regularly when young and during dry spells, then let the top of the soil dry out between waterings.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile soil; tolerates a range of soil types once established.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 10 °C, as it is frost-sensitive.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
SE. Ethiopia to Mozambique, Comoros, Madagascar, SW. India, Sri Lanka
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Filicium decipiens, called the ferntree, fern tree or fern leaf tree, is a species of Filicium found in east Africa, Madagascar, India and Sri Lanka. It is planted as an ornamental tree in the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Hawaii, and elsewhere.
[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 Filicium decipiens 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.