Plant: 30–60cm tall. Leaf narrow, fleshy, deeply V-shaped, often glaucous. Stem with several bracts, sometimes leaf-like.

Flowers: up to 5 greenish yellow flowers with red stripes on lateral petals and widely spaced “eyes” (dark lumps on the column wings). Labellum with a violet base and masses of long red whiskers in the middle, terminated by a tapered, curled bare tip. A green flowered form is uncommon.

Flowering: October to December.

Habitat: track sides, in gumland scrub and swampy ground.

Conservation: scattered plants in scattered localities; endangered in NZ and in Australia.

Notes: Green (colourless) forms occur within colonies.

Key features: labellum base bare violet, tip bare tapered.