N. 0. OROHIDEJk 
1243 
Various substitutes are sold in India. The kind known as Royal Salep 
[bddshdh so lab) lias been identified as being derived from a species of Allium 
(A. Maeleanii, Baker Rot. May., t. <1707 ; Aitchison, Annals of Botany,, 1889-90, 
iii., 140-56) : while the tuberous roots of Asparagus adsendens (West Himalaya 
and Punjab) and of A. racemosus (Deccan) are the white musnli, Ctireuligo 
orchioides, the bla.ck musnli and certain species of Habenaria are also so used. 
Besides these substitutes, an imitation salep, made of potatoes and gum 
(known as banawati salob), 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.i.. vi 50. 
Fern. : — 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 emarginate 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 l-l£in., flower lj-l^in. 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 ljin., obovoid, erect, ribs thick, pedicel lin., very 
stout. A striking species, the long erect peduncles, carrj ing 
the flowers high above the bushes over which the plant climbs. 
(Trimen.) 
Uses : — It is supposed on the Malabar Coast to temper the 
bile and abate phrenzy and the golden yellow flowers, reduced to 
powder, are given in consumption, asthma, and mania. (Ainslie.) 
