The Order Pandanales, the pandans or screw-pines, is an order of flowering plants found in the Phylum Angiosperm and in the Class Monocotyledons. Members of the order have a subtropical distribution and includes trees, shrubs, and vines as well as herbaceous plants. The order consists of 5 families, 36 genera and about 1,610 species.

Freycinetia arborea, or ‘Ī‘ī, is a densely branched, brittle, woody climber, endemic to the Pacific Islands.

The shiny green leaves have pointed ends and are spiny on the lower side of the midrib and along the edges. Leaves measure 16 to 31 inches (40–80 centimetres) long and 0.4 to 1.2 inches (1–3 centimetres) wide, and are spirally arranged around the ends of branches. Flowers form on spike-like inflorescences at the end of branches, and are either staminate or pistillate. Staminate spikes are yellowish-white and up to 4 iches (10 centimetres) in length. Pistillate spikes are 1.2 to 1.6 inches (3–4 centimetres) but elongate to 3.0 to 3.7 inches (7.5–9.5 centimetres) once fruit are produced. Three to four spikes are surrounded by orange-salmon bracts. Fruit is .4 inches (1 centimetre) long and contains many seeds about .06 inches (1.5-millimetre) in size.

The bracts and fruit of the ‘ie‘ie were a favorite food of the ‘ō‘ū (Psittirostra psittacea), an extinct Hawaiian honeycreeper that was formerly a principal seed dispersal vector for plants with small seeded, fleshy fruits in low elevation forests. It is also a favored food of the ‘alalā (Corvus hawaiiensis), which is currently extinct in the wild.

The ‘ie‘ie is found in moist forests on the Hawaiian, Marquesas, Austral, Society, and Cook Islands. It grows into the forest canopy, attaching itself to a host tree using aerial roots. It may also grow as a sprawling tangle on the forest floor.

The ‘ie‘ie is endemic to the Pacific Islands.