Plant saprophytic; stems reddish-purple, leafless except for a few widely spaced bracts, glabrous, up to 30 cm tall; inflorescence loosely to densely flowered, with up to 20 small, shiny flowers; sepals and petals pinkish-brown, parallel veins darker; sepals oblong, spreading, 11 mm long, 4 mm wide; lateral petals somewhat oblanceolate, asymmetric, 10 mm long, 4 mm wide; lip obovate, 10 mm long, 6.5 mm wide, shallowly 3-lobed, lateral lobes white, rounded, incurved, 2 mm wide, middle lobe bright purple, undulate, 4 mm wide, the disk with 5 longitudinal crests; column white, curved, narrowly winged, 8 mm long; stigma vestigial; ovary pedicillate, about 15 mm long; capsule pendant, ellipsoid, 1.5 cm long, 0.5 cm wide. Flowers late summer.