Naming
It was first described by the English botanist John Lindley as "Angraecum maculatum" in 1821 based on a specimen collected from South America. Lindley later revised his original placement and moved the species to the genus "Oeceoclades" in 1833."Oeceoclades maculata" was first found naturalized outside of Africa in Brazil in 1829. It was later found throughout the Neotropics and specifically in Puerto Rico in the mid-1960s and in Florida in the early 1970s. It is considered to be one of the most successful invasive orchids.
When Leslie Andrew Garay and Peter Taylor resurrected and revised the genus "Oeceoclades" in 1976, they recognized "O. maculata" and two related species, "O. mackenii" and "O. monophylla". All three were described as being very similar in appearance and according to Garay and Taylor, the species could be distinguished by the proportions of the labellum, allowing for easy identification in preserved specimens or in the field in their opinion. "Oeceoclades mackenii" was said to have a labellum that was shorter than wide and possessed a branched inflorescence, while the labellum of "O. monophylla" had a "distinct elongate isthmus." Garay and Taylor also recognized the subspecies "O. maculata" subsp. "pterocarpa", which was said to have winged capsules. Later authors did not agree with recognizing these distinctions as sufficient to maintain separate taxa and thus reduced these names to synonyms of "O. maculata".
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