Brighamia insignis is a potentially branched plant with a succulent stem that is bulbous at the bottom and tapers toward the top, ending in a compact rosette of fleshy leaves.

[8] Brighamia insignis was found at elevations from sea level to 480 m (1,570 ft) in mesic shrublands and dry forests that receive less than 170 cm (67 in) of annual rainfall.

ʻakoko (Euphorbia celastroides), alaheʻe (Psydrax odorata), kāwelu (Eragrostis variabilis), pili (Heteropogon contortus), kokiʻo ʻula (Hibiscus kokio), ʻānaunau (Lepidium serra), nehe (Lipochaeta succulenta), pokulakalaka (Munroidendron racemosum), and ʻilima (Sida fallax).

In 1994, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reported five populations totaling 45 to 65 individuals, and listed the plant as an endangered species.

The last single individual was recorded in the wild in August 2012, and drone surveys in June 2019 and May 2020 found that it, too, had disappeared.