The flower of Bartholina etheliae, the spider orchid, is dominated by the long, thin thread-like protrusions from its lip, the lower petal. The four-lobed spreading lip is creamy white near its base with sparsely scattered spots on the surface and about four filament-like or thread-like segments extending outwards, curving downwards here from each lobe. These thin segments spread in a broad fan-shape, whitish and translucent near their bases, olive green near the tips. At the tips small, white bulbous structures, oblong in shape, are attached.

At the top of the photo the flower’s two sickle-shaped lateral sepals cross like arms in an emblem. They are olive-green in colour with faint dotted lines lengthwise along their surfaces. Thin, whitish lateral petals, angled low down and curving towards each other near their tips, are visible in front of the sepals (Liltved and Johnson, 2012).