Mylia taylorii forms dense mats or hemispherical colonial growths of vertical shoots which have a swollen, slimy appearance when damp.

Typically grows on peaty banks, bases of trees, rock faces, screes and open woodland in high rainfall climates.

According to Ratcliffe's account of oceanic bryophytes bordering the Atlantic, M. taylorii is classified as a Western British species.

[2] In Britain it is often found in the widespread derelict forests of sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and downy birch (Betula pubescens), managed as poor sheep pasture with scattered trees, in the uplands of Western Britain.

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