Thelymitra villosa is a terrestrial, perennial, deciduous, herb with an underground tuber with a single, erect leaf at the base of the flowering stem.

The distinctive column is yellow, reddish or brown with a glandular mid-lobe and hairy lateral lobes which are joined to each other.

[1][2][3] Thelymitra villosa was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley and the description was published in his book A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.

It grows in sandy clay, grey, white or yellow sand which is wet in winter.

[7][8] Thelymitra villosa is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.