Bartholina is a genus in the Orchidaceae family with 2 species found from Southern Namibia to the Eastern Cape. Distinguished by their flowers with a large lip with long thread-like lobes, plants produce a single heart shaped shiny leaf in winter that is often dry when the plants are in flower.
Bartholina burmanniana (L.) Ker Gawl. is found on clay slopes and flats from Clanwilliam to the Eastern Cape. It is a tuberous geophyte with a single prostrate hairy leaf, a hairy stem, and a solitary white flower marked with mauve spots and lines with a much divided lip. Plants flower in spring, usually only the first year after a fire. The first photo was taken by Bob Rutemoeller near Greyton September 2003. The second photo is from Alan Horstmann. The third photo from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok.
Bartholina etheliae Bolus is distributed from Namibia to the Eastern Cape where it mostly grows in the shade of shrubs on sandy slopes and flats. Similar to the other species, it flowers without fire from late spring to summer. The threads on the lip end in a small rounded knob. Photo from the book Plants of the Klein Karoo courtesy of Jan and Anne Lise Schutte-Vlok.
