It occurs in wet evergreen or semi-deciduous forest, sometimes on forest fringes, riverbanks and lakes, termite mounds, at elevations up to 1000 metres from Côte d’Ivoire, east to Sudan and Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and south to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

long - in densely-packed claviform heads of about 7 cm diameter, brick-red to reddish-pink, with a pungent smell.

Seeds are boiled and allowed to ferment, producing strong-smelling, blackish, paste used as a food and seasoning.

The bark of this species is used in tribal medicine, a decoction is taken to stimulate lactation (galactagogue), as a treatment for malaria, and to ease rheumatism and toothache.

[7] The timber is white, soft, and easily worked, with interlocked grain and coarse texture, showing a tendency to picking-up during planing.