Eulophia is a fascinating and highly varied genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae, bringing together some of the most adaptable and characterful terrestrial orchids of the tropics and subtropics. Eulophia is an accepted genus of perennials, native across tropical and subtropical regions and currently lists 286 accepted species. In Africa, the genus is especially rich and diverse, occurring in habitats ranging from fynbos to semi-arid regions and coastal dunes to grasslands, swamps and tropical forests, with sub-Saharan Africa and the western Indian Ocean islands forming a major centre of diversity. Many species grow from underground corms, tubers or pseudobulbs, producing pleated leaves and elegant flower spikes that may carry yellow, green, brown, cream, pink, purple or richly marked blooms. Some, such as Eulophia speciosa, are rewarding pot plants with bright yellow flowers, while others, such as Eulophia horsfallii, can become magnificent, tall-growing garden or container specimens with large purple flowers.

Eulophia speciosa commonly known as Large Yellow Eulophia is a South African indigenous species from the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Western Cape Provinces. The species is one of the most common and widespread southern African eulophias. With its fairly large, bright yellow flowers, it is a rewarding pot-plant that deserves to be cultivated more widely. Eulophia speciosa is a terrestrial orchid with fleshy, lanceolate (lance-shaped), semi-erect leaves that arise from underground corms/pseudobulbs. The lateral, leafless flowering shoot is about 0.4-0.8 m tall, and bears up to 30 comparatively large flowers in a lax and unbranched raceme. The flowers, measuring about 25-45 mm in diameter, are striking yellow and have red markings on the lip of the side lobes. Due to its very widespread occurrence in the eastern parts of southern as well as tropical Africa, the species is very variable in its structure, and some forms in southern Africa, for example two in Namibia, have originally been described as different species. In the southern African region, E. speciosa flowers mostly between October and January.