Eulophia petersii accepting visitors

Three oblong sepals rise at the top of the Eulophia petersii flower, hiding their tips in tight backward curls, away from the busy flower centre. The sepals have smooth, entire margins and dull green surfaces lined with longitudinal, purplish veins. They become from 19 mm to 33 mm long.

The pair of olive-green, curving petals, leaning forward over column and lip also has purple veins, more spaced than those on the sepals and their surfaces showing more shine.

The lip below protrudes forward, about 3 cm long, 1,5 cm wide, its margins in part irregularly shaped (or raggedly toothed) and wavy. The lip is white, the ridges on its bright pink-purple, central crest fleshy. The pair of lateral lip lobes, greenish as the petals, are erect on the sides of the column at the back of the central lip lobe.

The shiny, pale brown bulge below the tip of the lip is the spur that protrudes downwards from the back of the lip. The spur becomes about 8 mm long (Pooley, 1998; Onderstall, 1984; http://burgersonion.blogspot.co.za).