Spanish names include bejuco canesta, sotacaballo, and pabello, (Puerto Rico, Central America, basket vine, substitute horse, or pavilion).

[5] These are shrubs or free-standing vines up to 10 m wide and 6 m tall, with hairless twining, trailing or climbing stems.

[5] The plant is spread by birds, who eat the fruit, but is also cultivated as a decorative plant or bower, as a fiber, for medicine,[5] and food[6] It is found Florida, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America as far as Argentina.

[5] The shrub also covers windfalls, fences, rocks, and forms mounds of tangled stems to 2 m high in open areas.

[5] Both the split stems and bast fibers have been used to make barrel hoops, baskets, bent furniture and crafts.

[5] It is grown ornamentally and is a large sturdy plant that may be trained into bowers and enclosures.