Spider Orchid

Description

Bartholina etheliae is a species of plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is widespread in Southern Africa from Namibia down the west coast of the Northern and Western Cape and then along the southern Cape coast as far east as Port Elizabeth. It also is found well into the Karoo. Bartholina is an orchid genus native to South Africa and Namibia. A member of the Fynbos plant kingdom, Bartholina is also known as the "spider orchid". The common name comes from the array of long, narrow petal lobes that surround the flower, said to resemble the legs of a spider. The genus is named after the seventeenth century Danish scientist Thomas Bartholin.