This plant grows on the rocky island Culebra, anchoring in the humus that accumulates on the weathered granodiorite boulders covering its surface.

The forest habitat hosts other plants including: Clusia rosea, Bursera simaruba, Ficus citrifolia, Tillandsia spp., Anthurium acaule, Whittmackia lingulata, and Epidendrum cochleatum.

[1] The plant is an evergreen herb growing up to a meter tall with oppositely arranged leaves with fleshy blades up to 7 centimeters long by 5 wide.

The inflorescence is up to 16 centimeters long but only a few millimeters wide and is covered in minute, nearly invisible flowers.

The scratching of domestic fowl can disturb it, and the removal of the forest canopy eliminates the source of the debris that forms the humus.