It has a single erect, fleshy, channelled leaf and up to fourteen blue flowers with darker stripes on the petal and sometimes also on the sepals.

The arms on the sides of the column are reddish brown and sometimes have red or yellow teeth.

The lobe on top of the anther is variable in colour and shape but often has irregular teeth.

[2][3] Thelymitra pulchella was first formally described in 1853 by Joseph Dalton Hooker and the description was published in Flora Novae-Zelandiae.

[1][4] The specific epithet (pulchella) is the diminutive form of the Latin word pulcher meaning "beautiful".