Burnettia cuneata Lindl.

Plant dark purplish brown. Basal bract leaf-like, 10–20 × 6–8 mm. Flower stem 50–130 mm tall, fleshy, brittle, 1–7-flowered. Flowers fleshy, 10–12 × 20–25 mm, pink or white internally, externally brownish with darker veins and stripes; labellum with red stripes, especially the underside. Dorsal sepal obovate, 10–13 × 3–4 mm, strongly hooded. Lateral sepals oblanceolate, 10–13 × 3–4 mm, erect then spreading, divergent. Petals narrowly lanceolate, 10–13 × 2.5 mm, erect then spreading or deflexed. Labellum wedge-shaped, 6–7 × 6–7 mm, obscurely 3-lobed; lateral lobes incurved; midlobe short, blunt, outer surface minutely warty. Callus of 2 plates breaking up into small calli.

Highly localised and disjunct; growing in wet, peaty soils in dense, shrubby swamps containing thickets of scented paperbark and species of Leptospermum. It is commonest in large, swampy areas, but small colonies of the orchid can occur in small, isolated swampy patches and seepage areas that support Melaleuca squarrosa.

The tuber is eaten after roasting.

It emerges after fire. Plants can be grown by division. It grows best near Melaleuca plants.