This is a Brazilian terrestrial species and we found it growing abundantly around Macae de Cima in Rio State in regrowth forest.

It seemed to prefer growing in moss protected by scrubby regrowth and made large mats of its heart shaped leaves in an area of regrowth where the forest had burnt about twenty years before our visit in 2006.

The plant shown here was grown from seed collected in 2006 which flowered about six years from sowing. We find it does best for us in a basket on a bench in Cool Americas where it is kept damp and shaded.