This neotropical annual vine is widely scattered on lowlands in southeastern states on lowlands, especially the Gulf Coastal Plain. It is generally considered to be an invader from warmer regions (Sm, F, W). There appear to have been no records from Ky. before colls. in 1973 (Browne & Athey 1978); Rafinesque and Short did not list it at all. However, it appears to have been present in Ill. during the 1790s (Michaux 1803): "juxta amnen Kaskaskia, ab occidente in flumen Mississippi defluentem" [near the place Kaskaskia, on west side of Mississippi River floodplain]. The plant has diverse reported medicinal uses, especially anti-bacterial, and it has been cultivated for such purposes. Its diverse ingredients include a cyclohexane-carboxylic acid, phenyl acetic acid, caryophyllene (a sesquiterpene), phytol (a diterpene alcohol) and neophytadiene (Jeyadevi et al. 2012); also the flavones, apigenin, luteolin and their derivatives (Menichini et al. 2014).