The curious purple birds-nest orchid, is most often found in the forest. The plant has no green leaves, the term abortivum refers to the leaves being small and poorly formed; the plant depends on specialised fungi, micorrhiza, which in turn are interdependent on the roots of trees to provide nutrition. Like fungi, it spends much of its life underground, where it forms a complex tangle of roots, resembling a birds nest. The underground stems only produce aerial growth when local conditions are favourable to distributing seeds.