The dingy-flowered or mule-ear orchid (Oncidium luridum Lindley) is an epiphyte with an odd distribution—south Florida and Cuba, but not Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, nor the northern Leewards, the east coast of Mexico with the exception of the Yucatan, Central America, the Windwards (southern Caribbean), and northern South America to just south of the Amazon. The flowers vary over the range from mustard yellow to green to brown mottled to almost solid brown, even some with lavender-pink mottling on white.

This variation has led to a confusion of botanical names starting with Linnaeus in 1759. In 2001, the mule ear was lumped with another species (O. carthagenense) and the two reclassified as Trichocentrum carthagenense (Jacq.) M.W. Chase & N.H. Williams. If the new classification holds, then the native range will include the Yucatan and Hispaniola. Offered along with the reclassification is a new common name, Coot Bay dancinglady, but oreja de burro (mule ear) for the shape of the large rigid leaf, has stood through all the many botanical name changes over the centuries.

Before the advent of modern medicine, the traditional médicos of Cuba prescribed the mule ear to aid breathing. A tincture made from the leaf is a bronchodilator. It eases the bronchial spasms for people suffering from asthma. In Cuba, testing on white rats indicated that this native medicine had few harmful side effects.

(Compiled from: W3TROPICOS, Jim Solomon, Missouri Botanical Garden; "Trichocentrum carthagenense", Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants, R.P. Wunderlin & B.F. Hansen, Institute for Systematic Botany, University of South Florida.; "Oncidium luridum", The Native Orchids of Florida, 1st Edition, Carlyle A. Luer, The New York Botanical Garden, W.S. Cowell, Ltd., 1972 and "Toxicidad en dosis repetidas del Oncidium luridum Lindl." M. A. González, M.S. Baró, M.R. Flores, M.C. Hernádez, E.P. Santoya, y M.E.P. Paiba, Rev. Cubana Plant Med. 1997.)