New leaves are often rosy. There is a single stone with a bitter kernel. The capulin is native and common throughout the Valley of Mexico from Sonora to Chiapas and Veracruz, and possibly also indigenous to western Guatemala. It has been cultivated since early times in these areas and other parts of Central America and in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, and is extensively and abundantly naturalized. The fruit is an important food, not only of the Indians, but of all the inhabitants, and it was at times a mainstay of the invading Spaniards.
Great quantities appear in the native markets, especially of El Salvador, Guatemala and Ecuador.
In Guatemala, seedlings of the capulin are utilized as rootstock on which commercial cultivars of the northern cherry are grafted. The capulin is little-known in eastern South America and elsewhere in the world. It was introduced into the cool medium elevations of the Philippines in 1924. The tree requires a subtropical to subtemperate climate. In Mexico, the tree blooms from January to March and the fruits ripen in July and August.