It has a single thin leaf and up to twenty five dark purplish-black flowers with tiny glandular hairs on the sepals and petals.

Genoplesium vernale is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber and a single thin, dark green leaf 100–180 mm (4–7 in) long and reddish at the base with the free part of the leaf 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long.

[2][3] Genoplesium vernale was first formally described in 2001 by David Jones and the description was published in The Orchadian.

[6] The spring midge orchid grows in shrubby forest between Jervis Bay and Mogo.

The main threats to the species are land clearing, forestry operations and inappropriate fire regimes.