ORCHIS. 195 



plump one is an offset, from the centre of which the stem of the 

 succeeding year is destined to proceed. By this means the 

 actual situation of the plant is changed about half an inch every 

 year, and as the offset is always produced from the side 

 opposite to the withered bulb, the plant travels always in one 

 direction, and will in a dozen years have marched six inches 

 from the place where it formerly stood." * 



Qualities and general Uses. — The tubers of this plant 

 form the best substitute for the celebrated Persian Salep, with 

 which it has been long considered identical, but according to 

 Royle, the true eastern plant is a species ofEulophia. This species 

 however, affords a product equally nutritious with the foreign 

 Salep f , as does the 0. Morio, and probably the whole of the 

 tuberous-rooted species of Orchis. The proper time for taking 

 up the tubers is (about August or September) when the seeds 

 are perfected and the stems are beginning to wither ; at this 

 period the new tuber is plump and firm ; this alone is selected 

 and the withered one thrown away. It is washed in water, the 

 cuticle rubbed off with a coarse cloth and then placed on a tin 

 plate in an oven previously heated to the degree requisite for 

 baking bread. In eight or ten minutes it acquires the trans- 

 parency of horn, and is scarcely diminished in size ; it is then 

 placed in a dry room for two or three days, or exposed to a 

 moderate heat for a few hours ; after which it is ground into 

 powder and is fit for use. 



The sensible qualities of the plant are rather feeble. The 

 odour of the flowers is moderately strong, and to most persons 

 unpleasant, and has even been designated hircine J ; and the 



* Loudon's Encyclop. of Plants, p. 752. 



•f Salep, as met with in commerce, occurs in the form of ovate or ovate- 

 oblong bodies, usually strung on threads, smooth, semi-transparent, hard 

 and somewhat horny ; soluble when masticated, and when pounded af- 

 fording a white powder. It is held in much esteem by the Persians and 

 Turks, for recruiting the exhausted strength of enervated or aged persons, 

 and is especially prized as an aphrodisiac ; stimulating substances are, how- 

 ever, often combined with it, such as amber, musk, ginger, cloves, cinna- 

 mon, &c. It has been, and still is we believe, used by the hard working 

 classes of this city, as a breakfast drink instead of tea or coffee, than which 

 it is certainly more nutritious. 



\ The flowers of O. Morio have rather a fragrant odour. 



