It is native to French Polynesia, where it survives on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands.

[1] Pelagodoxa henryana grows to 12 meters tall, with a smooth brown trunk up to 15 cm in diameter marked by ring-like leaf scars.

[3] The plant was described by Odoardo Beccari in 1917, from seeds, notes, and photographs gathered on Fatu Hiva by Charles Henry in 1916, likely in the Taipivai Valley.

The trees grow in disturbed lowland rain forest near the Teuakueenui waterfall.

Both populations are from 140 to 300 meters elevation in lowland wet forest dominated by the trees Hibiscus tiliaceus, Inocarpus fagifer, and coconut (Cocos nucifera).