N. 0. OROHIDE^. 1243 



Various substitutes are sold in India. The kind known as Royal Salep 

 {bddshah salab) has been identified as being derived from a species of Allium 

 (A. Macleanii, Baker Bot Mag., t. 6707; Aitchison, Annals of Botany,, 1889-90, 

 iii., 149-55) : while the tuberous roots of Asparagus adsendens (West Himalaya 

 and Punjab) and of A. racemosus (Decean) are the white musali, Curculigo 

 orchioides, the black musali and certain species of Habenaria are also so used. 

 Besides these substitutes, an imitation salep, made of potatoes and gum 

 (known as banawati salab), is largely manufactured for the Indian market. 



A considerable Trans-frontier trade exists in salep from Afghanistan, 

 Persia, Baluchistan and Bokhara into India. A little trade is also done in 

 collecting and drying in India itself, mostly Kashmir and Lahoul, the tubers 

 of Orchis latifolia, but the bulk of the ordinary article met with in the country 

 is imported by sea into Bombay from Persia and the Levant. 



1228. Vanda spathulata, Spreng., h.f.b.l. vi 50. 



Vern. : — Ponnampon-maraiva (Malay). 



Habitat : — Western Peninsula, from Malabar to Travancore, 

 and Ceylon. 



Stem about 1ft., leafy, thicker than a swan's quill, rooting 

 upwards ; roots very stout, vermiform ; internodes lin., green ; 

 leaves 2-4 by lj-ljin., lorate, keeled, recurved, flat, tip 

 rounded emargiuate or 2-lobed, lower leaves sometimes smaller, 

 ovate, sheath green, speckled with red ; peduncle from the middle 

 or lower nodes, 12-18in., erect, robust, with a few distant, short, 

 acute sheaths, green, speckled with red ; raceme terminal, 

 4-5-fid., rhachis stout, bracts broadly ovate, acuminate, pedicel 

 with ovary 1-l^in., flower lj-ljin. broad ; sepal and petal obo- 

 vate-oblong, tips rounded ; lip longer than the sepal, side-lobes 

 small, oblong, erect, mid-lobe much larger, shortly clawed, 

 triangular-ovate, tip contracted, obtuse, spur very short, conical; 

 column very short, rostellum obscure; anther depressed, 

 truncate, pollinia oblong, strap short, spatulate, gland large, 

 2-fid ; fruit Hin., obovoid, erect, ribs thick, pedicel lin., very 

 stout. A striking species, the long erect peduncles, carrying 

 the flowers high above the bushes over which the plant climbs. 

 (Trimen.) 



Uses : — It is supposed on the Malabar Coast to temper tbe 

 bile and abate phrenzy and the golden yellow flowers, reduced to 

 powder, are given in consumption, asthma, and mania. (Ainslie.) 



