''Oeceoclades saundersiana'' is a terrestrial 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 a large area in tropical Africa. It can be found in west tropical Africa (Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone), west-central tropical Africa (Central African Republic, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gulf of Guinea islands, Rwanda, and Democratic Republic of the Congo), northeast tropical Africa (Ethiopia), east tropical Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda), and south tropical Africa (Angola and Zambia). It was first described by the German botanist Heinrich Gustav Reichenbach in 1866 as ''Eulophia saundersiana''. It was later 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 ''O. saundersiana'' has a labellum with four lobes of equal size and the pseudobulb is long and cylindrical with two leaves.Garay, L.A., and P. Taylor. 1976
The genus ''Oeceoclades'' Lindl.
''Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University'' 24(9): 249-274.

References

saundersiana Orchids of Africa Plants described in 1866 {{Cymbidieae-stub