218 ORCHIDE^ 



Salep or Saloop." Forskhall says that the plant which furnishes this substance 

 is in Persia called Sahlcb. The farinaceous powder is prepared by washing 

 the tubers, and drying them in an oven ; salep, made some years since in 

 Gloucestershire from the early Purple Orchis, was found to be quite equal 

 to what was imported. The tuber should be taken up when the plant is in 

 seed, and the stalk about to fall from it. It is then at its full size, and about 

 as large as a pigeon's egg. 



With the exception of salep, our British species of Orchis yield no useful 

 substance. The showy foreign kinds are scarcely more productive. A kind 

 of cement or glue is obtained from the roots of some exotic species ; and the 

 vanilla used in flavouring chocolate and other sweetmeats is the dried fruit 

 of the Vanilla planifolia. 



3. Dwarf Dark-winged Orchis {0. vstuhUa). — Sepals dark purple, 

 forming a helmet including the two small petals ; lip white, with raised 

 purple dots ; spur and bracts about half as long as the ovary ; tubers egg- 

 shaped. This Orchis is readily distinguished by its low growth, and dark 

 brownish-purple colour, in some specimens so dark that, before the flowers 

 are fully expanded, they look as if they had been blackened by a scorching 

 flame. The spike is oblong, the floAvers small, and usually more crowded 

 than in the specimen represented by the plate. They expand in May and 

 June, on a stem about four inches high. The leaves are deep green. The 

 plant grows on chalky hills and pastures, and is not one of our common 

 species; though it may be found plentifully in some localities. It has a 

 faint and delicate odour, like that of boiled cherries. 



4. Great Brown-winged Orchis {0. fusca). — Lip 3-lobed, with raised 

 rough dark-red spots, the lateral lobes linear-oblong, the middle one large, 

 inversely heart-shaped, crenate, with an intermediate tooth; sepals rather 

 blunt, hooded, and including the petals ; spur blunt, half as long as the 

 ovary; tubers egg-shaped. This, which is the largest and tallest of our 

 Orchids, is commonly one to three feet high. In Kent and Sussex, which 

 from the chalky soil are famous for Orchids, this plant is, in May, often very 

 conspicuous in the woodlands and on the bushy hill ; and it seems to be 

 peculiar to those counties. It is often carried into the towns in baskets for 

 sale, mingling among green Tway-blades, and dim brown Bird's-nests, and 

 overhung by graceful ferns. Kentish country people call it the Lady Orchis ; 

 and the reader may see, by glancing at our plate, that though its form is 

 not very suggestive of its name, yet that there exists some slight similarity 

 in each blossom to a lady attired in wide-spread gown and close bonnet. 

 The leaves are oblong, blunt, bright green, and glossy. The helmet is 

 brownish-purple and variegated, and the lip of a paler hue. It is also known 

 as 0. jna-jmrea. 



5. Military Orchis (0. militdris). — Lip deeply 3-lobed, with rough 

 raised points ; the two side lobes linear-oblong, short ; the middle lobe again 

 divided into two slender segments, with an intermediate tooth; sepals hooded, 

 including the two petals ; spur blunt, about half as long as the ovary ; bracts 

 short ; tubers egg-shaped. This plant is very similar to the last in the 

 structure of its flowers, and is intermediate in this respect between that and 

 the following species. It is much smaller than the Great Brown-winged 



