Leaf spirally twisted, dark green, 50–100 × 4–10 mm; basal part of leaf widest, purplish, its margins often lobed and undulate, short hairs on veins and margins; leaf narrowing abruptly above base then linear, spirally twisted, encircling flower stem. Sterile bract 1. Flower stem 100–450 × 1–2 mm, wiry, 1–3-flowered. Flowers 20–50 mm across, pink, reddish, blue, mauve, lilac or purplish, sometimes with darker irregular veins, sepals sometimes greenish, occasionally blotched externally. Sepals and petals 10–25 × 4–9 mm, dorsal sepal widest, labellum narrowest. Column 5–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm, similar colour to perianth; post-anther lobe vestigial, apex with arc of globose to finger-like papillae; column arms erect to obliquely erect, stalked, 1.5–3 mm long, ear-like, orange or yellow, sometimes twisted, warty. Anther at top of column, projecting forward, yellow, apex beak-like, 0.5–1.5 mm long.
Widespread, but uncommon to rare; found growing in soils that are moist to wet in winter, particularly among sedges and rushes in depressions, flats, swamps and on the edge of granite plates.
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