Plants 5-18 cm tall. Tubers elliptic or ovoid, 5-20 mm. Stem to 2.5 cm, with 1 or 2 tubular, membranous sheaths at base, 1-leaved.

Leaf basal, abaxially often purplish red, adaxially deep green with off-white lines along 5-7 principal veins and dark purple spots between them, cordate to broadly ovate, 1-3 × 0.7-2 cm, adaxially sparsely minutely papillose, base subcordate, apex acute. 

Inflorescence erect or slightly curved, 4-14 cm, slender, glabrous; rachis 1-3.5 cm, laxly 1-3-flowered; floral bracts broadly ovate, 4-5 × 2.5-3 mm, much shorter than ovary, apex acuminate. Flowers often secund, deep purplish red, small to medium-sized; ovary cylindric, 10-12 mm including pedicel, slender, glabrous. Dorsal sepal erect, concave, oblong, 5-6 × 2-3 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lateral sepals ovate-oblong, oblique, 6-8 × 3-4 mm, 1-veined, often with pinnate veinlets, apex obtuse. Petals erect, forming a hood with dorsal sepal, obliquely ovate, 5-6 × 3-4 mm, glabrous, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lip spreading, with dark purple spots at base, cuneate-obovate, 3-lobed above middle, 10-11 × 10-11 mm, spurred, margin entire to slightly crenulate; lateral lobes elliptic to suborbicular, 1.8-4 × 3-4 mm, usually broader than mid-lobe, apex obtuse, truncate; mid-lobe subsquare, 2-3.8 × 2.2-3.8 mm, apex obtuse-rounded, occasionally emarginate; spur saccate, short, ca. 1 mm, apex obtuse. Fl. Jun-Jul.