[1] Its native range stretches from Mexico to southern tropical America and Cuba.

It is native to the countries of; Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

[1] It has been introduced into; Bangladesh, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

[1] The genus name of Luehea is in honour of Carl Emil von der Luehe or Lühe (1751–1801), a German botanist and chamberlain of Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark; later a chamberlain in Vienna, Austria.

[2] It was first described and published by Carl Ludwig Willdenow in Neue Schriften Ges.