!Ionopsis utricularioides [Sw.]Lindley 1826 Photo courtesy of Jay Pfahl

Flower Closeup Photo courtesy of Weyman Bussey

Specimen Plant Photo courtesy of Nik Fahmi Vortex Orchid Pages

To and

Common Name The Delicate Violet Ionopsis

Flower Size less than 1/2" to 3/4" [less than 1.1 to 2 cm]

I collected this plant in Jamaica but they are also found in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leewards, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Windward, French Guiana, Surinam, Venezuela Colombia, Ecuador, Glapagos, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil even being found rarely in Florida at elevations ranging from sealevel to 1300 meters, where it blooms in the spring and summer, and is a miniature sized, cool to hot growing epiphyte found at altitudes up to 1100 meters in humid forests and citrus groves. It is a small, scrambling plant with ellipsoid, compressed, 1/2" psuedobulbs that bear a single, apical, linear to oblong-elliptic, acute leaf and 2 to 3, 6" linear or lanceolate, carinate, stiff and imbricate leaves that surround and enfold the rhizome and, a basal, erect, up to 3' long, branching panicle, terminating in densly numerous flowers that open in succession over months. The color of the flowers ranges from white to pink, lavender to purple and are quite a site in full bloom.

Synonyms Cybelion pallidiflorum (Hook. f.) Spreng. 1826; Cybelion pulchellum (Kunth) Spreng. 1826; Cybelion tenerum (Lindl.) Steud. 1840; Cybelion utriculariae (Sw.) Spreng. 1826; Dendrobium utricularioides [Sw.] 1799; Epidendrum calcaratum Sessé & Moc. 1894; Epidendrum crenatum Vell. 1827; Epidendrum paniculatum (Lindl.) Rchb.f. 1865; Epidendrum sessei Hoehne 1952; *Epidendrum utricularioides Sw. 1788; Iantha pallidiflora Hkr. 1824; Ionopsis deliciosa Linden & Rchb.f 1856; Ionopsis gardneri Lindl. 1851; Ionopsis pallidiflora Lindley 1836; Ionopsis paniculata Lindl. 1836; Ionopsis pulchella Kunth 1815; Ionopsis pulchella Lindley 1846; Ionopsis tenera Lindley 1836; Ionopsis tenera var effusa Lindley 1853; Ionopsis tenera var tomentosa Lindley 1853; Ionopsis tenera var violacea Lindley 1853; Ionopsis utricularioides f. virginalis (L.C.Menezes) Christenson 1996; Ionopsis utricularioides var. latifolia Cogn 1903; Ionopsis utricularioides var. violacea Lindl. 1852; Ionopsis utricularioides var. virginalis L.C.Menezes 1993; Ionopsis zonalis Lindley & Paxt. 1851; Scaphyglottis pallidiflora (Hook.) Lindl. 1839

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list IPNI ; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959; Flora de Venezuela Foldats Volumen XV Part 5 1970; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 118 Dodson 1980; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 782 Dodson 1982; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985; Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 48 Hagsater & Salazar 1990; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991; Schlechteriana Vol 2 No 4 1991 photo; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 photo; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 1/2 1993 as I utricularioides var virginalis; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 071 Bennett & Christenson 1993; Fieldiana Biology, Flora Costa Ricensis Family # 39 Orchidaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae Atwood & Mora 1997; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2001; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2002; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 7 2003 photo; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005; Vanishing Beauty; Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006;

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