flava is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber which grows in colonies of hundreds to thousands of individuals.

The leaf is relatively long for the species' size, often tinged red or purple on the lower side and is narrower beyond its middle.

The middle lobe has four to six erect teeth and there are two rows of calli along its centre forming a U-shape.

The description was published in Brown's book Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen from a specimen in Archibald Menzies' early collection.

[8] Cowslip orchid grows in a range of soils, often in winter wet areas, in forest, the coastal woodlands and on the granite outcrops between Geraldton and Israelite Bay in most biogeographic regions of the South-West Province and in the Coolgardie region of the Eremaean Province.

flava is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.