Leaf 40–180 × 1–2.5 mm, terete or channelled, green, base reddish. Flower stem straight or flexuose, 80–400 × 1.5–2 mm, wiry, reddish, 1–5-flowered (usually 2). Sterile bracts several. Flowers 8–15 mm across, pale pink, bright pink to reddish pink, rarely creamy. Sepals and petals 5–8 × 3.5–4 mm, sepals often darker than petals. Column 3–5 × 2 mm, cream, pink or reddish, lacking hood; post-anther lobe short, erect, yellow, narrowing upwards, apex entire, notched or warty; column arms 0.5–1 mm long, suberect, extending above anther, narrow, yellow, with short, round teeth or crenulate. Anther not prominent, cream.
Widespread and common; often found growing in moist to wet soil and peat among low shrubs, sedges and grasses in heathland, moist flats and swamp margins; also occurs in drier habitats such as open forest and woodland in freely draining clay loam.