Greek psyche – butterfly; opsis − resembling; the flower has the appearance of a butterfly.
Epiphytic herbs, sympodial, with short creeping rhizomes. Stems thickened into ovoid to spherical pseudobulbs, compressed, with basal sheaths. Leaves apical, solitary, leathery, stalked. Inflorescences basal racemes, erect or arching. Flowers resupinate, few-many, medium sized to large, often opening successively, usually yellow and brown. Sepals dissimilar, dorsal narrow, erect, free, laterals wider, free. Petals similar to dorsal sepal, erect, free. Labellum 3-lobed, fiddle-shaped, side lobes round, midlobe large and often 2-lobed, spreading, with calli. Column long, erect, 2-lobed, lobes with antenna-like appendages. Pollinia 2, waxy.
Members of the genus Psychopsis are closely related to, and formerly included in, Oncidium.
Five species from C and S America.
Dorsal sepal and petals often erect and antenna-like; column with 2 antenna-like appendages
Source: (2005). Orchidaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.