98 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
when it is the O. speciosa, /ost. (Reich. l.c. tab. ceexci. figs. 1 and 2 
but it seems impossible to draw any line of demarcation “between the 
three forms. Flowers redder and less purple than in O. Morio, 
the sepals without green lines. 
Early Purple Orchis. 
French, Orchis male. German, Ménnliches Knabenkraut. 
This is perhaps the best known of all the British Orchids. Its tuberous 
abound in a starch-like matter, called by chemists bassorin, which is likewise foun 
in the roots of Orchis Morio. This substance, which is a kind of starch, is contain 
in the tubers of various species of Orchis, which are prepared in Turkey and Persi 
and exported as an article of food under the name of “ saloop’’ or “ salep.” 
time salep was a favourite beverage in England, as procured from the native speci 
of Orchis, but it has fallen into disuse. The mode of preparation is to dig up the new 
roots at the end of summer, when the seed is fully formed, the bulbs being then 
perfection ; they are then scalded in water and dried in an oven till they acqui 
horny consistence, the outer skin being first rubbed off. When used as food, this ho 
substance is simply boiled in water to the required consistency. Salep appears to 
form a very healthful article of diet, and has been frequently recommended 
delicate conditions of health, It is said that a small quantity of salep added to mi 
has been found to retard the commencement of acetous fermentation in that fluid 
and that a moderate proportion of it added to wheaten flour is a useful and economic 
addition in making bread. A very small quantity of salep is sufficient to suppa 
life, an ounce a day having been known to sustain a man for nearly a week. 
The “long purples’? mentioned by Shakspeare are, we imagine, a variety of Orehis, 
still called ‘‘ dead men’s fingers’ in some parts of the country. 
*Therewith fantastic garlands did she make 
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, 
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name, 
But our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them : 
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke ; 
When down her weedy trophies, and herself, 
Fell in the weeping brook.” 
SPECIES IX—ORCHIS LAXIFLORA. Lun. 
Prats MCCCCLYI. 
Reich. 1c. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XIII. Tab. CCCXCILI. Fig. 1. 
Rootknobs globular, undivided or subglobular. Leaves strapshay 
or lanceolate-strapshaped, acuminate and very acute, not spotte 
Flowers in a very lax spike. Bracts about as long as the ovary, st 
herbaceous, generally tinged with crimson, 3- to 5-nerved. Later 
sepals spreading-ascending, at length reflexed, the upper sepal a 
the petals connivent, all of them obtuse, crimson-purple ; labellt 
about as broad as long, with the sides reflexed, crimson- purple, 
