It is a clump-forming epiphyte with large, greyish green pseudobulbs, each with up to six curved, deeply channelled leaves and up to sixty fragrant, variably coloured flowers that often have spots and blotches and a white to cream-coloured labellum with red markings.

This orchid usually grows in the forks or hollows of trees and is found from New South Wales to the northern parts of Western Australia.Cymbidium canaliculatum is an epiphytic, clump-forming herb with greyish green pseudobulbs 80–120 mm (3.1–4.7 in) long and 30–40 mm (1–2 in) wide.

[2][3][4][5] Cymbidium canaliculatum was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who published the description in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.

[6][7] The specific epithet (canaliculatum) is derived from the Latin word canaliculus meaning "canal" or "channel".

[8] The channelled boat-lip orchid grows in the forks or hollows of trees in woodlands and drier forests in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, the northern parts of the Northern Territory, (including Melville Island) and from Cape York Peninsula in Queensland south to the Hunter River in New South Wales.