It is fairly slow growing and when young prunes and coppices well. The tree occurs in Plantations, mixed farming systems and enrichment planting systems. Wildings are used for large scale planting as seeds are dispersed by birds.

In recent years in Kenya, as in several other African countries, this tree has come under heavy pressure of bark extraction. The bark is exported for use by the pharmaceutical industry for the manifacture of a drug used to manage complications associated with prostatism, a benign enlargement of the prostate. The tree is becoming rare in the wild, although now favorite in agroforestry and afforestation campaigns. It is also increasingly used as a shade tree and ornamental in the homestead. Hollow trees are often inhabited by bees. Prunus is a large genus with several hundred members mainly found in the north temperate zones and including well-known fruit such as apricot (P. armeniaca), plum, almond, peach, and cherry.