It is a terrestrial orchid with two or three egg-shaped leaves and between three and fifteen deep reddish purple flowers with a green column.

[2][3][4] The mountain sprite orchid was first formally described in 2006 by David Jones and Bruce Gray who gave it the name Diteilis petricola and published the description in Australian Orchid Research.

[5] In 2008, Peter Dundas Bostock changed the name to Liparis petricola.

[6] The specific epithet (petricola) is derived from the Ancient Greek word petra meaning "rock" or "stone"[7]: 601  and the suffix -cola meaning "dweller" or "inhabitant".

[7]: 217 Liparis petricola grows in rainforest, often in leaf litter on large granite boulders and is found between Kuranda and the Kirrama National Park.