It has two broad leaves and a single greenish-bronze or purplish flower with an ant-like callus covering most of the top of the labellum.

The callus resembles a large black ant surrounded by thin, stalked glands and covers most of the labellum.

[2][3][4] This orchid species was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière who gave it the name Epipactis reflexa and published the description in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen.

[6] The specific epithet (reflexa) is a Latin word meaning "bent" or "turned back".

[7] The short-clubbed wasp orchid grows in a wide range of habitats but is most common in coastal and near-coastal forest and heath.