It occurs in Angola, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and in Limpopo and Gauteng Provinces in South Africa.

The fruit is spherical, crowned with the persistent calyx limb, initially green, but turning black when ripe, and is edible.

[4] Laboratory analysis has revealed that the pavettamine concentration in Fadogia homblei was highest in the topmost leaf pair, and decreased towards the base of the plant.

All the gousiekte-causing plants have symbiotic bacteria in their leaves, and at first these were suspected of playing a role in the production of pavettamine.

[5] The structure of pavettamine remained elusive, but was finally published in 2010 by Bode et al., some 15 years after it was first isolated, and found to be (2S,4R,8R,10S)-1,11-diamino-6-aza-undecane-2,4,8,10-tetraol.