[1] There is only one known population of this plant, made up of scattered occurrences totaling about 20,000 individuals, all within the Kodachrome Basin.

[3][4] The single known population of this plant is mostly located on land within the bounds of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument and Kodachrome Basin State Park.

It grows on dry, barren outcrops of white shale at roughly 1,740 meters (5,710 feet) in elevation.

[2] P. tumulosa is a narrow endemic which is extremely limited in distribution, and the land on which it grows is impacted by a number of processes.

Gravel mining was once a threat to the species but since the area was designated a national monument these operations have ceased.