It is a leafless terrestrial, mycotrophic herb with one or two leaf-like bracts and up to seven flowers that are brownish on the back and pink or white inside.

The labellum has dark red stripes and is wedge-shaped, 6–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long with two longitudinal ridges along its midline.

[2][3][4] Burnettia cuneata was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley from a specimen collected in Tasmania and the description was published in his book The Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants.

[5][6] The specific epithet (cuneata) is a Latin word meaning "wedge-shaped".

[7] The lizard orchid grows in dense thickets of Melaleuca and Leptospermum in near coastal swamps in New South Wales, Tasmania and Victoria.