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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-928
Pau D Arco
Handroanthus impetiginosum
Pau D'Arco is a fast-growing deciduous tree of Central and South American tropical and subtropical forest, grown as a dramatic flowering shade and landscape tree and for the inner bark used across its native range as a bitter tea and poultice for skin and inflammatory conditions. It needs full sun and well-drained ground, and is cold-sensitive and drought-intolerant, wanting regular moisture through its growing season. In open ground it typically reaches a modest tree size with an equally wide canopy, though specimens crowded in dense forest can grow far taller reaching for light.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Sand
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate · Moist
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 6.1–7.8
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 26.2–39.4 ft
- Mature spread
- 26.2–39.4 ft
- Plant spacing
- 20–30 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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