It has been naturalized in parts of Africa, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, The Bahamas, Indonesia, and other Caribbean islands.

Fruits appear July to September and are nearly 4 cm (1.5 in) long, ovoid yellow, acid, wrinkled when dry.

[citation needed] The fruit pulp is either eaten fresh or made into juice, concentrate, jellies, and sherbets.

In Thailand this fruit is called makok (Thai: มะกอก) and is used in som tam as a secondary ingredient.

The young leaves, which taste slightly bitter and sour, are sometimes served raw together with certain types of nam phrik (Thai chili pastes).

[citation needed] As a member of the sumac family (Anacardiaceae), exposure to the sap of this species may result in an identical allergic reaction to that of the poison ivy plant.

[5] The bark is astringent and used as an emetic and for diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, gonorrhoea, and leukorrhea.

[5] The flowers and leaves are used to make a tea for stomach ache, biliousness, urethritis, cystitis, and inflammation.

Throughout most of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and parts of Mexico it called jobo, derived from the Carib language.

In the Habla Congo language of the Palo Mayombe religion in Cuba, it is called nkunia guenguere kunansieto'.