Perennial herb, usually glabrous; stems contracted, erect; stolons well-developed. Leaves tufted; lamina broadly ovate to ovate-rhomboid, 3–15 mm long, 3–10 mm wide, occasionally with scattered short stiff hairs, apex obtuse, margins shallowly crenate to toothed, base cuneate, tapering to petiole, rarely truncate; petiole 1–3 cm long, narrowly winged; stipules free, linear-lanceolate, 1–5 mm long, glandular-denticulate. Flower-scapes 0.2–2.5 cm long, shorter than or just exceeding leaves, sometimes with short stiff hairs; bracteoles mostly below middle. Sepals lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm long, acute, basal appendages small. Petals 2–4 mm long, concolorous, blackish violet, rarely paler; anterior petal obovate-elliptic, c. 2 mm wide, without a spur; lateral petals entire, not or hardly twisted, bearded, sometimes only sparsely. Capsule ovoid, 4–7 mm long. Seeds ovoid, 1.5–2 mm long, white, brown or black.
Grows in damp sites at edges of waterways and wetlands, often in alpine or montane peatlands and herbfields, but also recorded at lower altitudes in southern Victoria and Tasmania.
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