Native to South America. It occurs in drier habitats, generally at elevations below 500 metres and in coastal areas, limestone hills, dry mountains and moist foothills, at elevations up to 900 metres. The plant is tolerant of a wide range of soils from clay to gravelly and sandy, dry soils, and also adapts to a wide range of soil pH from 5 – 8. It is sometimes found on somewhat poorly drained sites.

Fiddle wood is a graceful deciduous or evergreen tree with fragrant blooms. It can grow up to 16 metres tall, with a bole more than 30cm in diameter, though it often assumes a more shrub-like habit and is much smaller.

BARK: lightly fissured and is light orange/grey in colour.

LEAVES: up to 20 cm by 10 cm, attached to orange-yellow petioles, green but turns orange when aged and drop off. Branches generally tetragonal, giving rise to synonym species epithet ‘quadrangulare’.

FLOWERS: flowers are creamy white and are highly fragrant, up to 30 cm long in racemes, usually terminal and drooping. 

FRUITS: globose shaped, red or orange when immature, turns black when ripe. 

Edible: Fruit.

Medicine: young twigs, and bark. http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php id=Citharexylum+spinosum

Agroforestry: nectar-rich flowers are very attractive to bees (bee forage), used for screening and wind break plantings.

The wood is used to make charcoal

It is an ornamental tree.