Like others in its genus, it is an obligate parasite growing on the roots of rainforest trees, but differs in that its tuber appears above ground and has an elongated, repeatedly branched, coral-like structure.

There are 4, sometimes 5 yellow to straw-coloured overlapping, concave, egg-shaped leaves, arranged at about the same level around each segment of the above-ground tuber.

[3] Balanophora coralliformis was first formally described in 2014 by Julie Barcelona, Pieter Pelser and Danilo Tandang from a specimen found on the Mount Mingan summit trail in Central Luzon.

[4][2] The only-known populations of this plant occur in montane mossy forest at altitudes between 1,465 and 1,725 m (4,800 and 5,700 ft) on the south-west slopes of Mount Mingan.

However, the habitat of B. coralliformis is threatened by illegal logging and slash and burn agriculture.