Leaf 3–20 × 2–16 mm, green on both sides. Flowers semi-nodding, 12–14 mm long, reddish purple and translucent white with prominent bands or stripes on labellum, on straight or recurved stalk c. 12 mm long. Dorsal sepal 14–16 × 7–8 mm, longer than labellum, hairy inside near apex. Lateral sepals c. 8 mm long. Petals c. 4 mm long. Labellum 12–15 mm long, tubular with blunt, projecting beak that is often notched. Calli red, in 5–7 irregular rows.
Widespread, but disjunct and mainly localised in coastal and near-coastal areas. Found growing in a range of moist to wet habitats, including seepage sites in sparsely treed, dense, shrubby heathland and swamps, often in association with stunted plants of scented paperbark and grasstrees, in black peaty soil. In wet habitats, it commonly grows on tops of small mounds and corrugations, and within tussocks of spiky rushes. The areas become filled with water after heavy rain and the orchid plants can be totally submerged for a period. In the subtropics this species grows in wetlands dominated by broad-leaved paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia). A disjunct montane population occurs at high altitude on Timbarra Plateau, northern N.S.W., growing with Baeckea omissa (Lachlan Copeland pers. comm.).
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