Collect. Bot. pl. 39, fig. A. 1825. First found in Florida in 1904.

The specific epithet utricularioides comes from Utricularia, a genus of carnivorous plants known as bladderworts, and the Greek word “oeides” or “eidos” (appearance, form, resembling), thus “utricularioides” refers to the similarity of this species' flowers to those of some bladderworts.

Common names: Delicate ionopsis, Delicate violet orchid.

Plant epiphytic, 10 - 45 cm tall. Precarious habit, often found dangling from twigs or branches. Roots few to many, slender, fibrous. Pseudobulb green, ellipsoid, 2 x 0.5 cm, inconspicuous, mostly concealed between leaves. Leaves one to many, stiff, thick, 2 to 20 cm, up to 2 cm wide, linear, slightly cupped distichous, sheathed, sharply tipped, some discolored to reddish-brown when older. Inflorescense a loose panicle arising from the pseudobulb, slender, reddish-green, with small tubular sheaths at the nodes, 5-50cm long. Flowers from one to many, variable color from white to lavender with spotting or striping, 2 cm wide, lateral sepals united at the base forming a small sac. Lip two-lobed, as wide as long, deeply notched in the middle with crenulate edges. Sepals elliptic, acuminate 5 x 2.5 mm. Petals: obovate, oblique, apiculate, 6 x 3 mm. Column short, 2mm. Capsule oblong-cylindric, pendent, 1 to 3 cm long, three-ribbed and beaked.

Flowers throughout the Spring (March and April), blooms sparingly in the fall, persists through May.