Epiphyte; pseudobulbs minute or lacking; stems very short. Leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, 4-16 cm long, 5-15 mm wide, keeled on lower surface, ensheathing stem at base. Inflorescences paniculate, from leaf axils; stapes slender, erect to arching, 15-60 cm long; flowers several, mostly 6-7 mm long, diffuse, lavender or violet to white; sepals subequal, +/- oblong-lanceolate, acute, the dorsal sepal free, concave, the laterals connate at the base and produced into a short, broad sac; petals subequal to dorsal sepal, elliptic-ovate; lip twice as long as sepals, deeply emarginate and bilobed, contracted at base into a fleshy claw, the claw adnate to the base of the short, stout column; anther terminal, caplike. Fruits ellipsoid, 2-2.5 cm long, moderately ribbed and thin-walled. Croat 4679. Occasional, in the Laboratory Clearing. Flowers in the late dry season (March to May, especially April). The fruits mature in the rainy season (June to October). Florida and Mexico along the Caribbean coast and along the eastern side of the Andes to Brazil and Paraguay; West Indies; Galapagos Islands. In Panama' known from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Panama, and Darién.