It has two dark green leaves and a single greenish to reddish brown flower with a shiny dark reddish callus of mostly thin, column-like glands on the labellum.

There are up to 24 erect, dark reddish, column like calli up to 3 mm (0.1 in) long, the longest nearer the base of the labellum.

[3][4][2] Chiloglottis turfosa was first formally described in 1991 by David Jones from a specimen collected near the Tantangara Dam and the description was published in Australian Orchid Research.

[5] The specific epithet (turfosa) is a Latin word meaning "a peat bog" referring to the habitat of this orchid.

[3] The bog bird orchid grows with grasses and under shrubs in peaty soil in the Snowy Mountains near Kiandra and Adaminaby and in the Australian Capital Territory.