Leaf cordate to round, 15–40 × 15–45 mm, bright green above, silvery green beneath. Flower reclining on a recurved ovary (5–6 mm long) and peduncle (2–3 mm long), 15–25 × 8–12 mm, dark reddish purple to purplish black. Dorsal sepal obovate when flattened, greyish at base, the rest purple black, 23–34 × 12–20 mm, concave, curved forwards and hooding labellum. Lateral sepals whitish, c. 5 × 0.5 mm, erect in front of labellum base. Petals c. 3.5 × 0.5 mm, sometimes lobed. Labellum lamina almost circular, 14–20 × 9–11 mm, surface with numerous red papillae; basal tube 6–7.5 mm long, base of tube and auricles just visible below lamina; boss inconspicuous, mounded, reddish white; margins shallowly incurved with numerous short broad blunt teeth.
Widespread and common; growing in moist habitats including coastal scrub and forests on stabilised dunes and coastal flats in moist sand, high rainfall karri forests in humus-rich loam and dense, scrubby forests around springs and streams in moist to freely draining loam and laterite. Often forms large, spreading colonies under shrubs. Also colonises rotting logs and naturalises in exotic pine plantations.