Tournefortiopsis dependens is circumscribed here differently than in all previous studies; see Taylor & Berger (2021) for details. The inflorescences on the specimens appear to be widely spreading to pendulous, or sometimes perhaps moderately spreading with well-separated pendulous flowers, and this inflorescence form together with the white to more often red or purple corollas that have well-developed tubes suggest these flowers are adapted to attract hummingbird pollinators. Tournefortiopsis dependens has mainly 5-lobed calyces and corollas but sometimes an individual plant also has some 4-lobed calyces and corollas.

Tournefortiopsis dependens is the most commonly collected species of this genus from central Ecuador south and is found in scattered localities across the entire Andean region. Tournefortiopsis dependens is similar to Tournefortiopsis crispiflora, with 4-merous flowers in continental regions, and their separation needs further study.

Wet montane forest at 1500–3600 m, from the northeastern Andes and the Cordillera de la Costa of northern Venezuela (Aragua, Falcón, Lara, Mérida, Portuguesa, Trujillo) to the Andes of northwestern Colombia (Antioquia, Chocó, Caquetá, Cauca, Huila, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca), and southward through Ecuador (Bolívar, Carchi, Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Imbabura, Napo, Pichincha, Sucumbíos, Zamora-Chinchipe) and Peru (Amazonas, Cajamarca, Cusco, Distrito Capital, Pasco, San Martín) to Bolivia (Cochabamba, La Paz).