This sunbird has different plumage in males and females. It visits flowers for nectar and also occurs in well-wooded gardens and open forest in Sri Lanka.
Adult males have a metallic sheen on the crown that can look purple or green, a purple throat and lower back, and a yellow underside. Females have brown upperparts and a yellow underside.
It feeds on nectar. A 2013 study in Sri Lanka's Kandy district recorded it spending much of the day foraging and using flowers from 21 plant species as nectar sources.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.