It is a leafless epiphyte, a perennial herb that grows in a tangled cluster of roots and stems on the branch of a tree.

[2] This orchid is native to tropical central and eastern Africa and was first described in 1830 by the English botanist John Lindley.

The much-branched aerial roots may be either broad or slender and form a tangled mass; many are not attached to the substrate.

Its range includes Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.

[4] In the Southern African Sand Forest, a region of ancient dunes in southern Mozambique and northern KwaZulu-Natal, trees such as Newtonia hildebrandtii, Cola greenwayi and Drypetes arguta are swathed in epiphytes including Microcoelia exilis, and Usnea and other species of lichen.