 The habitat of the species displays the hardiness of the plant.It is ideally found in areas with a thin and peaty soil, the product of heavily eroded dolerite and silaceous bedrock, where most of the soil has been removed by glacial processes.It is also constantly exposed to high winds, snow and low temperatures It is unusual to find an area of "P. lawrencei" growing as a monoculture as they most often occur within a mosaic of other cushion plant species such as "Donatia novae-zelandiae, Dracophyllum minimum, Abrotanella forsteroides" and "Schizacme archeri".