Originally from Equatorial Africa, the evergreen African tulip tree can be found abundantly in Suriname; it is a spectacular flowering tree. It is a fast-growing, about 80′ tall, ever-blooming tree. The wood is known to be very soft and brittle. The trunk is light gray and somewhat buttressed. When young, the leaves are bronze; deep glossy-green at maturity.

Large clusters of velvety, bronze-green, kidney-shaped buds are to be seen at the ends of the branches. Flame of the forest is an ornamental tree in the tropics. The unopened buds contain water, which squirt when squeezed or pierced, for instance by birds. Out of each bud come, large orange-red flowers and because of those the tree is planted as an ornamental.

The bark and leaves are used in traditional medicine in Ghana. Bark is used in wound healing and especially burn healing. The bark and leaves shows a wide spectrum of antibacterial activity including anti-malarial activity. Aqueous alcoholic decoctions of the leaves shows promise to be used for the treatment of malaria. The stem bark decoction has shown hypoglycemic activity in mice.