[1] It is named in honour of the English botanist Richard Spruce who spent the years 1849 to 1864 exploring the Amazon basin and sending botanical specimens back to Europe.

[2] H. spruceana is a medium-sized, evergreen tree that sometimes develops a markedly swollen trunk, seemingly a response to periodical flooding.

This tree also grows beside the lower reaches of the Madeira River, the Rio Negro and other main Amazon tributaries.

Its typical habitat is muddy islands and riverbanks in localities subject to frequent heavy flooding.

They act as a magnet to tambaquis, large seed-eating fish in the piranha family, which cluster around the trees, consuming every fruit that drops.