The creeping devil is columnar, with a very spiny stem which is gray-green to creamy green in color, averaging 5 cm in diameter and 1.5–2 m long, with only the terminal end raised from the ground, with its shoot tips slightly angled upward.

The outer radial thorns, which vary in length and may be 10 to 17 in number, are whitish and somewhat rounded, measuring 10 to 15 millimeters long.The long, tubular, or peduncle-shaped, nocturnal flowers are white, pink, or yellow; usually 10–14 cm long with a spiny ovary, and flowering sparingly in response to rain.

Stenocereus eruca is considered the "most extreme case of clonal propagation in the cactus family" (Gibson and Nobel, 1986).

[2] It is endemic to the Magdalena plain in the central Pacific coast of Baja California Sur typically at altitudes up to 20 meters and is found only on sandy soils, where it forms massive colonies.

Transplantation, while not recommended due to environmentally specific factors, can be successful with strict adherence to maintaining conditions which mirror the native environment.