It has up to eight bright green leaves and up to twelve cream-coloured to bright yellow flowers with purplish to reddish brown bands.

[2][3][4] The harlequin orchid was first formally described in 1967 by Alick Dockrill who gave it the name Parasarcochilus hirticalcar and published the description in Australasian Sarcanthinae.

[5] In 1998 Mark Clements and Benjamin John Wallace changed the name to Sarcochilus hirticalcar.

[6] The specific epithet (hirticalcar) is derived from the Latin words hirtus meaning "hairy", "rough" or "shaggy"[7]: 391  and calcar meaning "a spur".

It is only known from the McIlwraith Range where it grows at altitudes of between 300 and 600 m (1,000 and 2,000 ft).