[3] The plant has runners that are overlaid by sand rising up to thick stalks that split into heavy upright branches that are in turn lined with rows of short think branchlets.

Found through much of Asia and in Australia it is found in Queensland[4] and in Western Australia along the coast in a large area extending from around Perth then north through the Mid West and Pilbara coasts and into the Kimberley region The species was described by Carl Adolph Agardh in 1817 as a part of the work Synopsis algarum Scandinaviae, adjecta dispositione universali algarum.

[3] Seaweeds are rich sources of lectins, which are glycoproteins of nonimmune origin that bind reversibly to specific mono or oligosaccharides, without exerting any enzymatic activity on these carbohydrates.

[8] When those lectins are injected 30 min prior to acetic acid, the mice inhibited writhing response in a dose-dependent manner; however, the antinociceptive effect was strongly reduced when lectins were combined with their binding sugar mucin, which on its own did not modify the nociceptive response induced by acetic acid.

[8] One study conducted on rats demonstrated that the administration of Caulerpa cupressoides lectins has a potential antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effect, with a mechanism that is partially dependent on TNF-α, IL-1β, COX-2 and ICAM-1 inhibition, and independent from the opioid system and NO/cGMP/PKG/K+ATP channel pathway.