[3] It contains five generally recognized extant species with a disjunct distribution in the Southern Hemisphere, found in Papuasia and also in South America.

[1][6][7] The base phyllotaxis or leaf arrangement is spiral though the leaves usually form subopposite and nearly decussate pairs.

It varies in shape from elliptic to ovoid or pyriform and may be red, violet or purplish brown in color.

[1] Retrophyllum has a naturally disjunct distribution covering the Maluku Islands of Indonesia, New Guinea, New Britain and New Ireland in the Asia-Pacific region, Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu in the Pacific and parts of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela in South America.

[1] The species Retrophyllum minus occurs in riparian and lacustrine habitats on ultramafic soils in New Caledonia.

[6][7][9] Retrophyllum shoots have a distinctive morphology in which the leaves are in subopposite pairs,[1] and twisted in such a way that the abaxial surface of one leaf is up, and in the other it is down.

This feature, added to a distinctive epidermal morphology means that well-preserved specimens can be easily identified in the fossil record.