It is a perennial plant that gets its common names from the distinct white and red or maroon stripes along its erect peduncle.

A. virgata are nongreen as they lack chlorophyll, instead obtaining nutrition from neighboring green plants through a fungal intermediate.

Allotropa virgata was first collected by the Wilkes Expedition in the Cascade Mountains of Washington in the late 1800s.

Standing dead stems, which darken to a reddish-brown with no white, from prior years' growth are often present.

The fruit of A. virgata are capsules which dehisce lengthwise through the ovary wall near the center of each of the 5 chambers.