It is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid which forms clumps with flattened pseudobulbs, two to four thin leaves and up to twenty greenish or pale yellow flowers.

It grows in rainforest at altitudes above 600 m (2,000 ft) in tropical far North Queensland.

Liparis nugentiae is an epiphytic or lithophytic, clump-forming herb with crowded, dark green to yellowish, flattened overlapping pseudobulbs.

[2][3] Liparis nugentiae was first formally described in 1896 by Frederick Manson Bailey and the description was published in the Department of Agriculture Queensland, Botany Bulletin.

[4] The large sphinx orchid grows on trees and rocks in rainforest that is often in mist.