[3] Pierre Choux,[4] the botanist who first formally described the species using the synonym Baseonema lineare, named it after its narrow (linearis in Latin) leaves.

Its flowers have 5 broadly oval sepals that are 0.6–0.9 by 0.6–0.9 millimeters, with pointed tips and margins that have fine hairs.

Its 5 violet petals are fused at the base forming a 1–1.2 millimeter long tube.

The pollen carriers are 0.2 millimeter long with an oval to rounded spathe without a stalk.

[7] It has been observed growing in transition zones between rain forests and plateaus at elevations of 800 to 1200 meters.