Thelymitra malintana Blanco, Fl. Filip. 642. 1837; Habenaria dentata (Swartz) Schlechter f. ecalcarata (King & Pantling) Tuyama; H. dentata subsp. ecalcarata (King & Pantling) Panigrahi & Murti; H. dentata var. ecalcarata (King & Pantling) Handel-Mazzetti; H. geniculata D. Don var. ecalcarata King & Pantling; Kraenzlinorchis malintana (Blanco) Szlachetko.

Plants 40-55 cm tall. Tubers ellipsoid, 2-4 × 1.5-2.5 cm, fleshy. Stem erect, terete, stout, with 3 or 4 leaves and 5 or 6 bractlike leaflets. Leaf blade oblong or oblong-lanceolate, 6-13 × 1.5-4.5 cm, base amplexicaul, apex acute or acuminate. Raceme densely more than 10-flowered; floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, ca. 2 cm, margin ciliate; ovary twisted, cylindric-fusiform, including pedicel 2-2.5 cm. Flowers white, ca. 1.5 cm in diam. Sepals subsimilar, oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 11-13 × 3-5 mm, 3-veined, margin finely ciliate, apex acute; lateral sepals spreading, slightly oblique. Petals narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 7-8 × ca. 2 mm, 1- or rarely 3-veined, unlobed, margin finely ciliate, apex acuminate; lip ligulate-lanceolate, 11-12 mm, margin finely ciliate, usually unlobed, with very small lateral lobes on both basal sides, spurless or rarely with a short spur 2-8 mm. Fl. Oct-Nov. 2n = 42, 84, 168.

Forests, grasslands; 500-1300 m. S Guangxi, Hainan, SW Sichuan, W to SE Yunnan, N Zhejiang [India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].