It has robust roots that cling to tree bark and short, often pendulous cane-shaped stems wrapped in tubular leaf sheaths.

Each stem carries two or three leathery, elliptical leaves with acute or subacute tips.

Flowering typically occurs from late autumn to spring, producing a terminal, racemose, erect, loose inflorescence about 16 cm long with a few flowers.One plant will produce 6-14 flowers that are a bit over 2 cm in diameter, pale green to bronze-colored.

It is the most northern-growing epiphytic orchid in North America, being found wild in the southeastern United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina and also in northeastern Mexico (Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas).

[3][6][7] Epidendrum conopseum grows on the branches of evergreen and deciduous trees such as Magnolia grandiflora, Quercus virginiana, Taxodium distichum, Swamp Black Gum, or American beech, at low elevations less than 100 m (330 ft) above sea level.