Vine with a rather nice flower manifestation, but that's not all it manifests. When prepared with another rainforest plant, Psychotria viridis, a potent hallucinogenic brew is made capable of zoning one to another planet far, far away. When mixed, the resultant concoction is called Ayahuasca. It is psychedelic due to alkaloids (harmine and others) present throughout the plant. Ethnologically, it is used by shamans in the Amazon basin for medical and magical purposes. Use of the brew can be traced to over 2500 years ago. Banisteriopsis caapi itself is a powerful purgative and has been used to clean the body of parasites and as an aid to the digestive tract.
The vine is described as a twisting tropical liana (climbing woody vine) capable of extremely fast growth given ideal conditions (a foot a week). The bark is smooth with a chocolate brown color. Leaves are green, long and somewhat oval shaped. Flowers are small and pink. Fruit is a samara (3 winged maple like). The seed is green when fresh, turns brown with age. Germination success is dependent on seed's freshness and may take several weeks. A jungle-like environment is needed. The most common method of propagation is accomplished by taking stem cuttings.

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