It has a single greenish brown leaf with a reddish base and up to five brownish green flowers with red striations and a labellum with a brownish purple "beard".

Calochilus sandrae is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single greenish brown, linear to lance-shaped leaf 120–200 mm (5–8 in) long and 8–12 mm (0.3–0.5 in) wide with a reddish base.

The lateral sepals are a similar length but narrower and spread apart from each other.

[2][3] Calochilus sandrae was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones from a specimen he collected near Nimmitabel and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research.

[3] The brownish beard orchid grows in shrubby montane forest between Nimmitabel and the Wadbilliga National Park in New South Wales and in the Namadgi National Park in the Australian Capital Territory.