[1] It was discovered by Italian botanist Odoardo Beccari in 1866, and described in 1878.

It was not observed again until 2017, when it was first photographed by a team of biologists from the Czech Republic.

[2][3] It was found in the Gunung Matang massif in western Sarawak, in the Malaysian part of the island of Borneo.

[2][4] T. neptunis lives underground, and is a myco-heterotroph, a plant which obtains nutrients through a parasitic relationship with fungi.

It does not bloom every year, and when it does, its flower appears above the soil for only a few weeks.