''Oeceoclades pandurata'' is a terrestrial and

epiphytic An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

orchid species in the genus ''

Oeceoclades ''Oeceoclades'', collectively known as the monk orchids, is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae. It is related to '' Eulophia'' and like that genus is mostly terrestrial in habit. A few species extend into very arid en ...

'' that is native to eastern Zimbabwe and Madagascar. It was first described by the British botanist

Robert Allen Rolfe Robert Allen Rolfe (1855, Wilford, Nottinghamshire – 1921, Richmond, Surrey) was an English botanist specialising in the study of orchids. For a time he worked in the gardens at Welbeck Abbey. He entered Kew in 1879 and became second assistant. ...

in 1891 as ''Eulophia pandurata'', then moved to the genus ''Lissochilus'' by Joseph Marie Henry Alfred Perrier de la Bâthie in 1941, and again moved to the genus ''Eulophidium'' by

V.S. Summerhayes Victor Samuel Summerhayes (21 February 1897 – 27 December 1974) was an English botanist in charge of the orchid herbarium at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew for 39 years. Summerhayes was born on 21 February 1897 at Street, Somerset and he was ...

in 1957. It was finally transferred to the genus ''Oeceoclades'' in 1976 by

Leslie Andrew Garay Leslie Andrew Garay (August 6, 1924 - August 19, 2016), born Garay László András, was an American botanist. He was the curator of the Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium at Harvard University, where he succeeded Charles Schweinfurth in 1958. In 1957 h ...

and Peter Taylor. Garay and Taylor noted that this species possesses lateral veins on the labellum that fringed with small hairs. ''Oeceoclades pandurata'' is distinguishable from other species in the genus by the lateral lobes of the labellum, which are free and truncate (an abrupt termination).Garay, L.A., and P. Taylor. 1976
The genus ''Oeceoclades'' Lindl.
''Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University'' 24(9): 249-274. The type specimen was collected on trees near Fort Dauphin on Madagascar, now known as the city of Tôlanaro. The specific epithet ''pandurata'' refers to the

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

-shaped labellum.Rolfe, RA. 1891.
Orchideae
pp. 50-59, ''In'' Elliot, GFS
New and little-known Madagascar plants.
''Journal of the Linnean Society'', 29(197): 1-67; plates I-XII.

References

pandurata Orchids of Madagascar Flora of Zimbabwe Plants described in 1891 {{Cymbidieae-stub