The description of this species in its natural habitat (Paxton, 1834) is remarkable:
“It was found growing in the greatest abundance at the base of Khoseea Hills, in valleys remarkable for their humidity and shade; which sufficiently demonstrates the importance of applying these two principles in artificial cultivation. The elevation of these tracts was not greater than one thousand feet above the level of the sea, and the plant blossoms during the cold season. In its native localities, it covers whole trees with its rich crimson blossoms; its branches depending in the most graceful manner, and forming elegant festoons from branch to branch, and from tree to tree, crowned at their extremities with a most brilliant profusion of flowers”.