Professor Su Hung-chieh of National Taiwan University's Department of Forestry, who was the first person to research wild orchids in Taiwan after the island's return to Chinese rule in 1945, classes the Taiwan pleione as an early-stage plant in the "succession" of vegetation types which colonize bare rocks.
光復後最早研究野生蘭花的台大森林系教授蘇鴻傑，將台灣一葉蘭歸為「岩生演替序列」中的初期植物。在台灣大自然裡風化裸露的岩壁上，常因雨水、苔蘚、枯枝落葉堆疊，累積成厚厚蓬鬆的腐質層，就是孕育一葉蘭的溫床。