A rather unobtrusive orchid: its generally green colour, sometimes tinged with red, and its small size (often around ten centimetres) make it invisible in the meadows it loves. It is said to have disappeared from many regions and even though a real decline in populations has been observed, it is sometimes still present but not listed, hidden in the green grass.

Genetically close to Dactylorhiza, the genus to which it is sometimes attached, it is nevertheless distinguished morphologically: not very colorful, smaller, with a much shorter nectariferous spur and a bifid labellum that is longer than it is wide.