Plant: perennial with persistent rosette of pointed oval leaves. Leaves reducing in size up the stem.

Flowers: small, pink to red, rarely white, numerous, in spiral. Labellum white, fringed.

Flowering: January to April.

Habitat: boggy areas or wet compacted shingle among grasses, often seasonal wetlands.

Conservation: widely distributed, usually few, scattered plants; not threatened.

Notes: rosettes easily overlooked. DNA studies identify this with S. australis. One variant tagged S. "Motutangi" is a more robust plant with more widely opening flowers.

Key features: wetland plant, many spirally arranged tubular pink flowers, scarcely opening.