This terrestrial Orchid is unusual in the long thin segments spreading from the lip. These unusual needle-like features characterising the two species of this small genus may be either white or purple in the case of Bartholina etheliae.

There are only two species of Bartholina, the other being B. burmanniana with very similar appearance but lacking the tiny spherical knobs at the tips of the lip segments (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).