In 1891, Otto Kuntze moved it to a new genus of its own called Hammarbya, named after Hammarby, Linnaeus's summer residence.

The stem is yellow-green, has three to five corners and grows from a small pseudobulb wrapped in two to five reduced leaves.

The short, triangular lip is dark green with paler stripes and points upwards and forwards.

In the majority of orchids, the flowers are resupinate, twisting 180° during development so that the lip points downwards.

In Europe it occurs north to 69° in Scandinavia and south to the Italian Alps, Balkans and Romania.

[5] (Codes) [6] In the British Isles it is found widely but very locally with the largest numbers in north-west Scotland.

It grows in bogs near streams and ditches or where there is a slow flow of water over the surface.

The orchid has no true roots and is dependent on fungi in its rhizome to obtain nutrients.

[9] with three known populations, occurring in conifer swamps growing in association with Thuja occidentalis, Picea mariana, and Larix laricina, but unlike most swamps of the state it grows in those that receive water from up-welling of ground water that have moderate levels of dissolve minerals and a neutral pH.