The fruit is an ingredient in some popular Vietnamese dishes, made into a syrup for mixing into cold drinks, and can be dried and preserved as a snack.

[12] The seed surface typically displays an intricate pattern with an approximate five-fold symmetry, and its five rhombic protrusions are reminiscent of primitive Buddha images.

A specific specimen of Dracontomelon dao has become an icon for students and a tourist attraction of sorts for the University of the Philippines Los Baños.

[14] Some time before 2005, the dao gradually began to lean "20 degrees to the side with respect to its vertical position due to its heavy crown and weakened root system", leading then-Chancellor Wilfredo P. David to order that it be cut down in 2005.

[14][15] With testimony from some of UPLB's plant pathologists and urban forestry experts, and support from the Philippines' National Commission on Culture and the Arts and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, protesters managed to prevent the tree from being cut until David's term ended, after which the next chancellor, Luis Rey I. Velasco, decided not to cut it, and instead declared it one of the university's twelve "Centennial Heritage Trees.