!Ionopsis utricularioides [Sw.]Lindley 1826

Photo by © Jay Pfahl

Flower Closeup

Photo by © Weyman Bussey

Specimen Plant

Photo by © Nik Fahmi

I utricularioides var virginalis

Photo by © L C Menezes

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, Galapagos, 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 to medium 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 ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1853 as I pulchella; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856 as I deliciosa; Studies in the Family Orchidaceae Vol 1 Ames 1905 drawing fide; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Schlechter 1915; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 74. Panama Schlechter 1922; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 143. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923; Flore Descriptive des Antilles Francaises H. Stehle 1939 drawing fide; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 drawing fide; Iconografia de Orchidaceae Do Brasil Hoehne 1949 as I paniculata not drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 drawing fide; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 35 No 5 1966; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 # 9 1967; AOS Bulletin Vol 39 No 1 1970 photo; Flora de Venezuela Volumen XV Part 5 Foldats 1970 drawing fide; The Native Orchids Of Florida Luer 1972 Drawing/photo fide; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing fide; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 44 #8 1975; Orchidaceae Brasilense Band II Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing good;AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 1 1979 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 48 No 5 1979; Orquídea (Mexico City), n.s., 7[3]: 1979; Orchids of Venezuela An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 2 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 118 Dodson 1980 drawing fide; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 782 Dodson 1982 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 54 No 3 1985 photo fide; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 McVaugh 1985; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo fide; An Introdution to the Orchids of Mexico Wiard 1987 photo fide; Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide; Selbyana Vol 10 Orchids of Central America Hamer 1988 drawing fide; Orchids Travel By Air A Pictoral Safari Mulder, Mulder-Roelfsema and Schuiteman 1990 photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum I Plate 48 Hagsater & Salazar 1990 drawing fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 2 COS 1991 photo fide; Schlechteriana Vol 2 No 4 1991 photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 61 No 10 1992 photo fide; The Manual Of Cultivated Orchid Species Bechtel, Cribb & Launert 1992 drawing/photo fide; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 1/2 1993 drawing/photo fide; Schlechteriana Vol 4 No 1/2 1993 as I utricularioides var virginalis photo fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 071 Bennett & Christenson 1993 drawing fide; An Orchid Flora Of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 67 #6 1998 photo fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Fieldiana Biology, Flora Costa Ricensis Family # 39 Orchidaceae, subtribes Maxillariinae and Oncidiinae Atwood & Mora 1999 drawing fide; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 2 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing fide; The Pictoral Encyclopedia of Oncidium Zelenko 2001; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 2 Dodson 2001 drawing/photo fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 72 No 7 2003 photo fide; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide; Orquideas Nativas del Tachira Cesar Fernandez 2003 photo fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Orchids of The Brazilian Central Plateau Menezes 2004 photo fide; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005 photo fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 1 Pupulin 2005 photo fide; Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium, Bakers 2006; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orquideas del Peru Freuler 2010 photo fide; Orquideologia Vol 28 #1 2011 photo fide; Las Orquideas del Peru Izerskyy & Bezverhov 2011 photo fide; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 drawing/photo fide; Orquideas de Roirama Luz & Franco 2012 photo fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013; LANKESTERIANA 13(3) 2014 photo fide AOS Bulletin Vol 86 #3 2016 as Ionopsus pulchella drawing fide; Orchid Digest Vol 81 #2 2017 photo fide; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 photo fide; Orchids A Colombian Treasure Vol 3 Ortiz & Uribe 2019 photo fide;

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