It has six or seven leaves on the lower part of its stem and up to thirty white flowers with one long and two short lobes on the labellum.

[2][3][4][5] The stiff rein orchid was first formally described in 1834 by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart who gave it the name Platanthera rumphii and published the description in Louis Isidore Duperrey's book Voyage Autour du Monde.

[1] The specific epithet (rumphii) honours Georg Eberhard Rumphius who had given the orchid the name Orchis Amboinica minor.

It also occurs in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea.

In Australia it is found on the Cape York Peninsula and south to Ingham as well as on some Torres Strait Islands.