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Dracontomelon dao
Anacardiaceae FAMILY

Dracontomelon dao

Dracontomelon dao

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The sap of the tree may be irritating and /or poisonous[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitSemi-deciduous Tree
Growth—

A plant of the lowland tropics growing in areas with a high rainfall that is more or less evenly distributed throughout the year or, less frequently, in areas with a short dry season where the tree is briefly deciduous[2]. It experiences a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,800 - 2,900 mm[2]. Trees tolerate some shade[2]. Prefers a sunny position[3]. Found in the wild growing on clayey to stony soils, mainly alluvial flats, and in swampy areas[2]. Inflorescences are produced at the base of new shoots[2]. The tree is reported to bear flowers almost throughout the year, although a more concentrated flowering occurs when the tree is almost leafless and before new bronze-coloured leaves appear[2]. Young trees can reach a height of 3 - 4 metres after 2 years and 6.5 metres after 5.5 years[2]. In Java, where trial plantations have been established at a spacing of 1 x 3 metres, the canopy closes after 8 years[2]. Natural pruning is usually good, so artificial pruning is seldom necessary[2].

Propagation

Seed - Propagation is usually by seed. Trees can also be established by direct sowing and wildings as it regenerates easily Seed should be extracted immediately after the fleshy fruits have been collected. Pulp and seed can be separated by maceration. There are 520-620 seeds/kg. Seeds are recalcitrant and there is a 33 % germination when sown fresh and no germination at all after 6 months under ambient conditions in Java. In Malaysia, 85-95 % of fresh seeds germinate after 28-67 days Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Dracontomelon+dao>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Food Plants of Papua New Guinea — French. B.R. · Author. · 2006 ↩︎Published on-line in PDF format, this book contains information on several hundred New Guinea food plants.
  2. [2]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  3. [3]Trees of Laos and Vietnam - A Field Guide to 100 species. — Hoang Van Sam; Khamseng Nanthavong; Kessler P.J.A. · Blumea · 2004 ↩︎A detailed guide, with excellent line-drawings, to 100 of the more important trees of Laos and Vietnam. A very good work, giving lots of information about each plant. Originally published in the journal Blumea, it is available as a PDF on the Interne
  4. [4]Plant Resources of Southeast Asia — http://proseanet.org/ ↩︎Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia.
  5. [5]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  6. [6]Flora Malesiana Series 1 — Various · Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden branch · http://www.archive.org ↩︎A massive treatment of the plants of the Malaysian Archipelago. Much of it has been made available to download from the Internet
  7. [7]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  8. [8]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  9. [9]BoDD (Botanical Dermatology Database) — http://bodd.cf.ac.uk/ ↩︎Brief notes on a very wide range of plants that have reports of causing harm to the skin.
  10. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎