It grows in wet páramo habitat among Polylepis and next to lakes, as well as grassy páramo and Andean forests.
The páramo proper lies above the subpáramo, and is dominated by grasses, rushes, herbs, and low shrubs of the families Gramineae, Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Rosaceae and Ericaceae.
It is restricted to a narrow swath of treeline vegetation (scrub, stunted trees and Polylepis woodland) situated between montane forest and Páramo grasslands that is often just hundreds of meters wide.