Rhizome 100–150 × 10–15 mm, fleshy, white, with sparse, fleshy bracts. Flower stem with overlapping bracts. Flowerhead 20–25 mm wide, conical, fleshy. Sterile sheathing bracts surrounding flowerhead, about 25, triangular, 10–16 × 5–7 mm, overlapping, drab white. Floral bracts triangular, c. 15 × 8 mm, 1-veined, white. Flowers 15–30 per head, tubular, 8–10 × 5 mm, reddish. Sepals and petals free, remaining in close proximity. Dorsal sepal 6.5–7.5 × 2.5–3 mm, including a point c. 3 mm long. Lateral sepals 8.5–10 × 2.5–3 mm, including a projecting point 4–5 mm long. Petals 3.6–4 × 1.5 mm, sharply pointed. Labellum narrowly elliptical, c. 3 × 2 mm, curved, fleshy, dark red, papillate, on a stalk c. 1 mm long.
Known from a single collection found growing in tall, wet forest in deep, basaltic loam. The forest is dominated by eucalypts c. 35 m tall, together with sheoaks, tree ferns and a sparse, shrubby understorey. The rainfall is c. 1,600 mm per annum, with most falling during summer. 2 flowering specimens from the original collection are lodged at the Queensland herbarium and a another in Cairns.
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