Small epiphyte usually consisting of a single growth. Stem 20–50 mm long. Leaves 3–10, 40–80 × 10–14 mm, strongly curved, dark green. Racemes pendulous, 70–160 mm long, 2–14-flowered. Flowers 16–22 × 12–15 mm, green to yellowish green or brownish. Sepals and petals narrow, spathulate, fleshy, widely spreading. Dorsal sepal 7–12 × 3–4.5 mm. Lateral sepals 7–12 × 3–4 mm. Petals 5–10 × 2–3 mm. Labellum 3–5 mm long, white with red to purple streaks and yellow suffusions; lateral lobes c. 6 × 4 mm, usually with red or purple stripes; midlobe erect, c. 1 mm long.
Locally common, extending from coastal districts to adjacent ranges; found growing on shrubs and trees, occasionally on rocks and boulders, in positions exposed to moderate or strong air movement in a range of humid, moist to wet habitats. Found beside small streams, creeks, gorges and waterfalls in open forest, coastal streams and estuaries, slopes above sheltered gullies and fern gullies in tall, wet forest and sparse, drier types of rainforest and thickets. It often grows on regrowth following disturbances and where there are breaks in the forest canopy such as stream banks, logged areas, tracks and beside roads. Sarcochilus australis grows on wide range of shrubs and trees, sometimes high up in the canopy, but often on trunks and main branches at eye-level, sometimes even closer to the ground. It also frequently grows as a twig epiphyte on thin stems and twigs of the outer canopy of shrubs and trees, sometimes hanging by just a couple of roots. Dislodged plants are commonly found on ground after storms. Frequent host plants in N.S.W. are Water Gum, which commonly grows beside streams, Eastern Leatherwood and Grey Myrtle, both forming thickets on dry, but humid, slopes and gullies. The largest plants are found in Vic. and Tas., where the flowers are often wholly green with a contrasting white labellum. Frequent hosts in Vic. and/or Tas. include Hazel (Pomaderris aspera), Dogwood (Pomaderris apetala), Austral Mulberry (Hedycarya angustifolia), Water Gum, Musk Daisy-bush (Olearia argophylla), Blanket Leaf (Bedfordia arborescens), Christmas Bush (Prostanthera lasianthos), Lilly Pilly (Syzygium smithii), Myrtle Beech, Varnish Wattle (Acacia verniciflua), Blackwood, Tree Violet (Melicytus dentatus) and Prickly Currant (Coprosma quadrifida). Occasional plants grow on the vine, Morinda jasminoides.
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