Previously known from localised subpopulations on the highest parts of the eastern central ridge. N. elliptica became noticeably rare in the nineteenth century, when the subpopulation was recorded as consisting of only 12 to 15 trees on the northern side of Diana's Peak, after a time this subpopulation was thought to be extinct. In 1977 a single tree was discovered on a precipitous cliff near Diana's Peak, this was reported to have died in 1994. The last remaining plant in cultivation died in December 2003. The genus is monotypic