The tropical apricot, or ketcot, is a hybrid between D. hebecarpa and D. abyssinica that was developed in Florida in 1953 and is also cultivated for its fruit.

It is a shrub or small tree growing to 6 m tall, with sharp, 3–6 cm long stem spines in the leaf axils.

The fruit is an edible dark purple globose berry 2–3 cm diameter, juicy with an acidic flavor, and containing several small seeds.

From seed the plants will take about 3 years to flower and if successfully pollinated can bear fruit.

Air layered plants are tend to be less thorny than seed grown and also flower and produce sooner.