TEE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 655 
derived from orchids ; these are salep and vanilla, to which 
we must now briefly refer. 
Several of our English species are remarkable, as also are 
many foreign ones, for the possession of two tubers to the 
roots, something like those of the Arum maculatum. These 
tubers form the substance known as salep, the origin of 
which is thus described by Dr. Syme : — “ The early purple 
orchis is, perhaps, the best known of all the British orchids. 
Its tubers abound in a starch-like matter, called by chemists 
bassorin, which is likewise found in the roots of Orchis 
morio . This substance, which is a kind of starch, is con- 
tained in the tubers of various species of orchis, which are 
prepared in Turkey and Persia, and exported as an article of 
food under the name of 6 saloop’ or 4 salep.’ At one time 
salep was a favorite beverage in England, as procured from 
the native species of orchis, but has fallen into disuse. The 
mode of preparation is to dig up the new roots at the end of 
the summer, when the seed is fully formed, the bulbs being 
then in perfection ; they are then scalded in water, and dried 
in an oven until they acquire a horny consistence, the outer 
skin being first rubbed off. When used as food this horny 
substance is simply boiled in water to the required consist- 
ency. Salep appears to form a very healthful article of diet, 
and has been frequently recommended in delicate conditions 
of health. It is said that a small quantity of salep added to 
milk 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 economical addition 
for making bread. A very small quantity of salep is suffi- 
cient to support life, an ounce a day having been known to 
sustain a man for nearly a w r eek.”* 
Dr. Pereira says that “ salep possesses the dietetical pro- 
perties of the starchy mucilaginous substances. Its medical 
properties are those of an emollient and demulcent. 
“It was formerly in repute as an aphrodisiac and restorative, 
and as a preventive of miscarriage, but has no claim to these 
powers. The notion of its aphrodisiac properties seems to 
have been founded on the doctrine of signatures. 
“ Indigenous salep was recommended by Dr. Thos. Percival 
as a wholesome article of food, and in a medicinal point of 
view as a restorative, emollient, and demulcent.”t 
Doubtless the signature here spoken of may be found in 
the two tubers, and hence also the term 0. mascula , or male 
# Sowerby’s * English Botany/ new edition, vol. ix. 
f Pereira’s ‘ Materia Medica/ vol. ii, p. 264. 
