Leaf erect, curved or slightly twisted, 50–130 × 2.5–10 mm, dark green, base purplish, shortly hairy, sometimes lobed. Flower stem 150–350 × 1–8 mm, wiry, 2–12-flowered. Sterile bract 1. Flowers iridescent, 25–40 mm across, starry, bright purple to pinkish purple, often with deeper purple spots and golden yellow margins. Sepals and petals 9–20 × 2–7 mm, stiffly spreading, dorsal sepal widest, labellum narrowest. Column 3.5–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm, similar colour to perianth, often yellow with pink or purple base; post-anther lobe vestigial, apex with arc of finger-like papillae; column arms obliquely erect, ear-like, 3–4.5 mm long, yellow, ending in needle-like point 0.5–1 mm long. Anther 5–6 mm long, obliquely erect, yellow, apex beak-like, 2–4 mm long.
Uncommon to rare; found growing among dense shrubs on rocky hills and on tops of low, lateritic hills in shallow, sandy soil pockets over laterite.
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