Dissotis princeps occurs in marshy places, along streambanks and at the fringe of forests in KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Limpopo, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi.
The genus Dissotis consists of ± 120 species in Africa, three of which occur in southern Africa. The other two southern African species are: D. canescens and D. pulchra of which only D. canescens can be seen at Kirstenbosch. It has smaller leaves and a less spectacular inflorescence than D. princeps. Two more southern African species that were in the genus Dissotis, viz. D. debilis and D. phaeotricha and their subspecies have been reclassified in the genus Antherotoma.
