[1][4] It is indigenous to southern Africa (KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Province), and reportedly naturalized in Tanzania and Mexico.

This species[8] and the cultivars 'Purple Eye'[9] and 'Silver Lace', with cream-margined leaves,[10] have all gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

[11] Treatment of seeds with a smoke solution has been shown to increase the leaf mass and height of T. violacea seedlings.

In South Africa, Zulu people eat the leaves and flowers as a leaf vegetable like spinach or for seasoning meat and potatoes.

[15] Some fatalities and symptoms like gastro-enteritis, abdominal pain, cessation of gastro-intestinal peristalsis, sloughing of the intestinal mucosa, and contraction of the pupils, have been implicated in medication prepared with T. violacea.