Plant: 2-3cm high when in flower. Leaves thin, undulate to smooth edged varying from green to red-veined to red.

Flowers: floral bract beneath the ovary very prominent. Flower above the leaf. Dorsal sepal slightly longer than the labellum. Lateral sepals and petals long, filiform. Petals shorter than the lateral sepals. Labellum dark crimson, 5 - 10mm long and forming a cylinder. Labellum opening usually oval, pale, and with a fimbriate edge.

Flowering: September to November.

Habitat: clay banks, usually in moderate shade. Throughout.

Conservation: common; not threatened.

Notes: Big specimens may have a second or third flower. Variations show a range of labellar midlobe calli—from none, to small warty, to a patch of hairlike calli. White flowered forms occur. Forms with a round labellum opening were recognised as a separate species but that is not currently accepted.

Key features: pale, frilly edge to the dark crimson, tubular labellum and the thin, undulate to smooth edged red-veined leaf.