It generally grows in lower montane forest above 1000 meters elevation, but is sometimes found at lower elevations – as low as 610 meters on New Britain, and 700–800 m at Lake Kutubu in Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.

[1] Nothofagus forest is generally found above a lower montane belt of oak relatives Castanopsis and Lithocarpus (family Fagaceae).

[3] On New Guinea Nothofagus forest usually has an understory of smaller trees, shrubs, lianas, and herbaceous plants.

[4] The Dani people of the Baliem Valley in western New Guinea use the leaves and bark of N. starkenborghiorum and N. brassii (both known locally as sagé) to treat many chronic illnesses with symptoms resembling cancer and degenerative diseases.

Nothofagin is a dihydrochalcone, a phenolic antioxidant and C-linked phloretin glucoside, which may account for its efficacy in traditional medicine.