A few species extend into very arid environments, unusual for an orchid.

The genus contains about 40 known species, most of which are narrow endemics to parts of Madagascar with some widespread across much of sub-Saharan Africa and the islands of the Indian Ocean.

[2][3][4][5] In Florida and several other places, O. maculata is considered an invasive weed.

[6][7] The only consistent morphological character that does not show intermediate forms in either genus and can thus separate Oeceoclades from Eulophia is the presence of two fleshy ridges on the basal part of the labellum (the hypochile).

The genus was resurrected by Leslie Andrew Garay and Peter Taylor in 1976 and since then has been affirmed as a monophyletic genus in molecular phylogenetic studies.