The Wayuu from the La Guajira Peninsula of Colombia and Venezuela also use the inner cane-like wood of the plant in wattle and daub construction.

[2] With an often tree-like appearance, its cylindrical gray-green to blue stems can reach 10 metres (33 feet) in height and 10–20 cm in diameter as a self-supporting plant.

However, if supported by a scaffold, C. repandus has grown to a height of 110 feet (34 meters) at the SDM College of Dental Sciences at Dharwad, Karnataka, India,[3] technically making this the tallest cactus plant in the world, although no cactus under natural conditions exceeds eighty-two feet (25 meters) in height in the case of Cereus stenogonus.

The large, cream-colored, nocturnal flowers remain open for only one night and are of vital importance to pollinating bats.

The fruits, known locally as pitaya, olala (only in some parts of Bolivia) or Peruvian apple, are thornless and vary in skin colour from violet-red to yellow.