The species can be found throughout the West Indies from Cuba and Jamaica to Trinidad and Tobago.

It can also be found from central Mexico to Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and French Guiana.

The heartwood color ranges from salmon-red to orange-brown when cut and darkens into a russet or reddish-brown. It is frequently marked with dark streaks. The grain is mostly interlocked with a coarse texture.

The Jatoba Tree exudes a rosin-like gum known commercially as South American copal and the seed pods contain an edible pulp