SALEP. 



655 



The salep of the Indian bazaars, known as Sdlib misri, for fine 

 qualities of which the most extravagant prices are paid by wealthy 

 orientals, is derived from certain species of Eulophia, as E. campesfns 

 Lindl., E. herhacea Lindl., and proloably others.^ 



History — Under the superstitious influence of the so-called doctrine 

 of signatures,^ salep^ has had for ages a reputation in Eastern countries 

 as a stimulant of the generative powers ; and many Europeans who 

 have lived in India, although not prepared to admit the extravagant 

 virtues ascribed to it by Hindus and Mahommedans, ye 



__ et regard it as a 

 valuable nutrient in the sick room. 



The drug was known to Dioscorides and the Arabians, as well as 

 to the herbalists and physicians of the middle ages, by whom it was 

 mostly prescribed in the fresh state. Gerarde (1636) has given excellent 

 figures of the various orchids whose tubers, says he, " our age useth." 



Geoffroy'' having recognized the salep imported from the Levant to 

 be the tubers of an orchis, pointed out in 1740 how it might be prepared 

 from the species indigenous to France. 



Collection — The tubers are dug up after the plant has flowered, and 

 the shrivelled ones having been thrown aside, those which are plump 

 are washed, strung on threads and scalded. By this process their 

 vitality is destroyed, and the drying is easily effected by exposure to 

 the sun or to a gentle artificial heat. Though white and juicy when 

 fresh, they become by drying hard and horn}', and lose tlieir bitterish 

 taste and peculiar odour. 



Salep is largely collected near Melassa (Milas) and Mughla (or Moola), 

 south-east of Smyrna, and also brought there from Mersina, opposite 

 the north-eastern cape (Andrea) of Cvprus. The drug found in Enghsh 



trade is mostly imported from Smyrna. That sold in Germany is partly 

 obtained from plants growing wild in the Taunus mountains, Wester- 

 J^ald, Rhon, the Odenwald, and in Franconia. Salep is also collected in 

 Greece, and used in that country and Turkey in the form of decoction, 

 which is sweetened with honey and taken as an early morning drink." 

 Ihe salep of India is produced on the hills of Afghanistan, Beluehistan, 

 ^abul and Bokhara; « the Neilglierry Hills in the south, and even 

 <-eylon are said likewise to afford it. 



Description— Levant salep," such as is found in the English market, 

 consists of tubers half an inch to an inch in length, of ovoid or oblong 

 torm, often pointed at the lower end, and rounded at the upper where 

 IS a depressed scar left by the stem ; palmate tubers are unfrequent. 

 ^hey are generally shrunken and contorted, covered with a roughly 

 granular skin, pale brown, translucent, very hard and horny, with but 

 "ttle odour and a slight not unpleasant taste. After maceration m 

 water for several hours, they regain their original form and volume. 



uJ'^^ Inflian species of Eulophia have 

 rl reviewed by Lindley in Jonrn. of 



^\»«-&c.Bot.iii. (1859)23. 

 3 1^^ Appendix, Porta. 



i, Arf.^^ *^ie Arabic ior/oz, and the drug 

 =» called in that langi;age Khus yata's salab, 



j^;/"* •' *.«s«c^e ; OT Khm yatti'l kalb, i.e. 

 English names Dofjsfonex, Foxsfones, 



JIarestone-t and Goatslones have all been 

 given in allusion to the form of the 



tubers. .^ ,n nn 



* M&m. de VJ cad. des Sciences for 1 / 40. 1)9. 



sHeklreich, Xutzpfanzen Griechenhndx, 



Athcn, 18t>2. 9. , ,. . , 



spow(ill,Ecouomic Prod nets of the FniijaO, 



Roorkee, i. (1S6S) 261 ; Stewart, PiinJ(d< 



Pleads, Lrihoro, 1869. 2.%. 



