Plants 3-23 cm. Roots fine. Pseudobulbs 4-8 mm diam. Leaves 2-3, basal; blade elliptic or narrowly elliptic, 0.3-3.5 × 0.1-1.5 cm. Inflorescences spicate racemes, 0.5-9 cm; floral bracts lanceolate, 1.4-3.3 mm; pedicels 2-3 mm. Flowers 2-55, not resupinate, green or yellowish green; dorsal sepal ovate-lanceolate, (1.6-)2-2.5 × 1-1.6 mm, apex acuminate; lateral sepals reflexed, elliptic, falcate, (1.6-)2.5 × 1-1.6 mm, apex acuminate; petals strongly recurved, ovate-lanceolate, 1.4-1.9 × 0.5-1 mm, apex acuminate; lip ovate with dark green veins, 1.2-1.8 × 0.7- 1 mm, base cuneate, apex unlobed, acuminate; column (0.3-)0.5-0.7 × (0.3-)0.5-0.7 mm; pollinia yellow. Capsules ascending, ellipsoid, 4 × 2 mm. 2n = 28. Flowering summer. Open sphagnum bogs, swampy woods; 10--300 m; Alta., B.C., Man., N.W.T., Ont., Sask. Yukon; Alaska, Minn.; Eurasia. Malaxis paludosa sometimes reproduces asexually by production of gemmae on the leaf tips (R. L. Taylor 1967).