It has between four and eight egg-shaped, dark green leaves and up to forty five small, hairy green and white flowers with a deep pouch near the base of the labellum.

Hetaeria oblongifolia is a tuberous, perennial herb with a loose rosette of between four and eight dark green, egg-shaped leaves, 50–80 mm (2–3 in) long and 25–35 mm (0.98–1.4 in) wide.

[3][4][5] Hetaeria oblongifolia was first formally described in 1825 by Carl Ludwig Blume and the description was published in Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsch Indie.

[7] The hairy jewel orchid usually grows on sheltered slopes in rainforest and near streams.

It is found in Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, New Caledonia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands, Thailand, Vanuatu and in Queensland between the Kutini-Payamu National Park and Rockhampton.