It is a bulbous geophytic herbaceous plant, with a stem from 20 to 50 cm high, green in color, turning towards the purplish brown in the upper part.

The basal leaves, from 3 to 7, are united in a rosette and lanceolate, up to 20 cm long, sometimes light-brown spotted; those cauline, from 1 to 3, are smaller and sheath the stem; the narrow bracts are purplish-red in color.

The labellum is trilobed, purplish pink with a lighter area at the base, with a 10–14 mm long dotted median lobe, with a roughly indented margin.

It has a very fragmented range that includes North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and Italy, where it is currently present only in eastern Liguria; in the past it was also observed in Sicily near Palermo (described by Vincenzo Tineo as Orchis panormitana) but the latter could be an incorrect identification.

brevicornis[4] It grows preferentially on acid soils, in olive groves, chestnut and oak clearings, meadows, along the edges of cultivated land, in full light or in semi-shade, from sea level up to 1500 m of altitude.