The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Bartholina burmanniana
Bartholina burmanniana is a small, deciduous, tuber-forming terrestrial orchid from South Africa's Cape region, grown mainly by specialist collectors rather than as a common houseplant. Success depends on matching its natural soil and its annual cycle of wet winters and dry summers.
Bartholina burmanniana, the spider orchid, is a species of deciduous, geophytic, flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae. It is one of two species within the Bartholina genus, the other being B. etheliae. The species’ common name refers to its spreading and deeply cut lip that is said to resemble a spider's legs. It is native to the Eastern and the Western Cape Provinces of South Africa, flowering from the end of August to the middle of October and peaking in September. This is one of the species sometimes referred to as "spider orchid".
Bartholina burmanniana is rarely found in colonies, growing in small groups or singly in a variety of habitats and soil types. Mass flowering is observed after summer bush fires remove thick vegetation, creating an opportune environment for attracting pollinators.
Bartholina burmanniana was amongst the first cultivated plants from South Africa to be introduced and to flower in Europe. It was first brought to Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, from the Cape of Good Hope in 1787, by Francis Masson a Scottish plant-hunter and horticulturalist.
The plants mutually beneficial association with mycorrhizal fungi is the key to successful cultivation. Within Bartholina spp., the root-stem tuberoids are replaced every year, meaning that mycorrhizal associations must be renewed annually. Therefore, plants must be grown in soil from their natural region or in the presence of an appropriate mycorrhizal fungi. It is recommended that coarse sand is incorporated into the medium and placed under cover with an open aspect. Watering regimes need to mimic the conditions of the Cape, with heavy fortnightly watering that stops completely from spring throughout the summer.
Bartholina burmanniana is considered to be a variable species, occurring in a number of conditions and habitats throughout its range. It can be found most commonly in the fertile clay soils of the ‘renosterveld’, a Dicerothamnus rhinoceritis dominated shrubland, on stony slopes or amongst bushes and clearings. It is also found on the nutrient poor, acid sandstone soils of the lowland and montane-fynbos shrubland dominated by the Cape heathland vegetation of Agathosma and Erica. It is also found in transitional fynbos-renosterveld were these two habitats meet.
Club Spider Orchid · Spider orchids · Namaqua Hair Orchid · Egoli Hair Orchid · Holothrix socotrana · Hair Orchids
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bartholina burmanniana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
