Ionopsis Kunth

Epiphytic herbs with short, subcylindric stems invested in 2-ranked foliage, the sheathing leaf bases with or without minute pseudobulbs. Leaves approximate, narrow, coriaceous, the bases imbricating. Inflorescences 1-3 slender, short to elongate, erect or arching, simple or paniculate scapes subterminal or lateral from the axils of the leaves. Flowers of moderate size to small. Sepals subequal, erect or spreading, the dorsal sepal free, the laterals connate at the base and produced into a short sac below the lip. Petals subequal to the dorsal sepal or broader. Lip clawed and adnate to the base of the column, the apical portion broadly expanded, entire or emarginate, conspicuously exceeding the sepals. Column short, stout, erect, the lateral margins not winged, the base without a foot. Anther terminal, operculate, incumbent, 1-celled or imperfectly 2-celled; pollinia 2, waxy.