''Bartholina'' is an orchid genus native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> A member of the

Fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

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 Thomas Bartholin (; Onomastic Latinizatio, Latinized as ''Thomas Bartholinus''; 20 October 1616 – 4 December 1680) was a Denmark, Danish physician, mathematician, and theology, theologian. He is best known for his work in the discovery of t ...

. Two species are recognized: * ''

Bartholina burmanniana ''Bartholina burmanniana'', the spider orchid, is a species of deciduous, geophyte, geophytic, flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is one of two species within the ''Bartholina'' genus, the other being ''B. etheliae''. The species’ co ...

'' (L.) Ker Gawl. (syn, ''Bartholina pectinata'') -

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

* ''

Bartholina etheliae ''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 The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the ...

'' Bolus -

and

References

External links

* * Orchideae genera Orchids of South Africa Flora of Namibia {{Orchidoideae-stub