It usually grows on rainforest trees and is found in New Guinea and tropical North Queensland, Australia.

Pomatocalpa macphersonii is an epiphytic or lithophytic herb with a single main flattened stem, 50–100 millimetres (2.0–3.9 in) long and thick, cord-like roots.

[2][3][4] The blotched bladder orchid was first formally described in 1870 by Ferdinand von Mueller as Saccolabium macphersonii.

He published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae from a specimen collected by John Dallachy near Rockingham Bay in Queensland.

[6] Plectorrhiza macphersonii usually grows on the trunks and large branches of trees in rainforest at altitudes up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).