''Oeceoclades zanzibarica'' 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
endemic to eastern
Tanzania in the
Zanzibar Archipelago.
It was first described by the English botanist
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 1927 as ''Eulophidium zanzibaricum'' and then later transferred to the genus ''Oeceoclades'' in 1976 when
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 resurrected and revised that genus. The
lanceolate leaves, which gradually taper to a point, are unique to the genus and the floral morphology is most similar to ''
O. alismatophylla''. However, the two species differ in the shape of
sepals and petals and in the proportions of the
labellum.
[Garay, L.A., and P. Taylor. 1976]
The genus ''Oeceoclades'' Lindl.
''Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University'' 24(9): 249-274.
References
zanzibarica
Endemic flora of Tanzania
Plants described in 1927
{{Cymbidieae-stub