It occurs in northern parts of Australia where it grows in rainforest, swamps and near streams.

Chiloschista phyllorhiza is an epiphytic or lithophytic, leafless herb that forms small clumps with many flattened greenish, photosynthetic roots 100–200 millimetres (3.9–7.9 in) long and 6–10 millimetres (0.24–0.39 in) wide radiating from inconspicuous stems.

[2][3] The white starfish orchid was first formally described in 1866 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Sarcochilus phyllorhizus and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae.

[7]: 666 The white starfish orchid grows on trees near the edge of rainforest, on sheltered ridges, in swamps and near streams.

It is found in the north of the Northern Territory, on some Torres Strait Islands and on Cape York Peninsula as far south as the Tully River.