It is native to tropical Africa. It occasionally grows in swamps as a semi-epiphyte, clinging to stumps and logs in shaded locations. The strap-like leaves resemble palm seedlings. Each spring, branched flower stalks, some reaching six feet, are adorned with numerous brilliantly purple blossoms with yellow crested lips. Each flower lasts up to ten days.
Blossoms open gradually as the inflorescence expands, offering many weeks of bloom.
Grow in a sunny location. The beautiful, dark green tree is well suited to the home landscape, maturing at 15 to 20 feet tall. The golf ball-sized fruit ripen in the late summer. Our grafted cultivar was selected from plants evaluated in seedling trials at Fairchild Tropical Garden. Spondias purpurea , jocote, is native to Central America where it has been grown as a traditional crop for centuries.