Orchis mascula or Salep Orchid,Salabmisri and famous mucilage source.
Article Content:
- .Basic Botanical Data of Orchis mascula.
- .Plant Description of Orchis mascula.
- .Orchis mascula Cultivation details and Propagation.
- .Phytochemicals and Constituents of Orchis mascula.
- .Edible Uses and Medicinal Uses:Orchis mascula.
- .Love herbs and Orchis mascula.
- .Research Update:Orchis mascula,Salabmisri.
Plant Description of Orchis mascula.
Orchis mascula (Linn.), the Early Purple Orchis, common in English woods, is in flower from mid-April to mid-June.Bulb growing to 0.6m.A single flower-stem rises from the tuberous root, bearing flowers that as a rule are of a rich purple colour, mottled with lighter and darker shades, though often found of every tint from purple to pure white. Each flower has a long spur which turns upwards. The leaves are lance-shaped and do not rise far from the ground, giving a rosette-like effect, and are irregularly blotched with dark purple markings, which help to render the plant conspicuous. In woods and meadowland, the plant often attains a height of a foot or more, while on exposed and breezy downs it is seldom more than 6 inches high.
These species of orchids grow in a soil medium compared to the usual air or tree medium that most tropical orchids prefer. This specie likes calcareous or neutral soils and they can also thrive in broadleaved woodland. The Early Purple Orchid can also flourish in limestone, calcareous grasslands, and vicinity of coastal cliffs and even in roadsides.
It gained its name because this plant is among the first plants to bloom in the United Kingdom after the winter season. It is highly similar to the other orchid species, the green winged orchid, except for the difference in their basal and stalk leaves.
The blossoms are practically odourless in some specimens, whilst those of others are faintly fragrant, but in most cases the smell is not only strong, but offensive, especially in the evening. There is no honey in the flowers, but a sweet juice in the walls of the spur, which insects pierce with their probosces and suck out. The plant is provided with two fleshy, egg-shaped tubers, one serving to provide the necessities of the plant, shrinking as the plant reaches maturity, the other receiving the leaves' surplus supplies of foodstuffs to store for use in the following season.
The Early Purple Orchid usually has a basal cluster of around five (usual) to eight (unusual) blunt tipped leaves. The leaves are oblong in shape and are somewhat shiny and smooth in texture. The plant has a stalk from which a couple or more stem leaves may protrude. The leaves have some very visible spotting which can vary according to the sub specie of the orchid. Some Early Purple Orchid plants may not have the distinctive spotting on its basal leaves.
The flowers of the Early Purple Orchid bloom in a spike which stands at a maximum of 60 centimeters tall. They can be found in clusters of 20 to 50 flowers in one spike. They are usually purple in color but can also range from very light purple to almost pink or white blooms. The flowers are similar to most orchids' species which have several sepals and a lip along with the true petals of the flower. The center of the flowers' lip is usually paler in coloration compared to the entire flower.
The Early Purple Orchid smells sweet when it initially blooms but gradually turns to a smell that is slightly akin to urine after it has been pollinated. There are several bees that pollinate this purple orchid. Some people claim that the root of the Early Purple Orchid has some medicinal value. The roots are ground to produce a powder called salep which is either drank or added to other foods to make them more nutritious.
Witches were supposed to use the tubers in their philtres, the fresh tuber being given to promote true love, and the withered one to check wrong passions. Culpepper speaks of them as 'under the dominion of Venus,' and tells us among other things, that 'being bruised and applied to the place' they heal the King's Evil.
This Early Purple Orchis in Northants is called 'Cuckoos,' because it comes into flower about the time when the cuckoo first calls. In Dorset it has the name of 'Granfer Griggles,' and the wild Hyacinth, which often flowers by its side, bears the name of 'Granny Griggles.'
Spread Areas:
Africa:Macaronesia: Spain - Canary Islands;Northern Africa: Algeria; Morocco
Asia-Temperate:Western Asia: Iran; Iraq; Lebanon; Turkey;Caucasus: Armenia; Azerbaijan; Georgia; Russian Federation - Ciscaucasia,North India,Tibetan.
Europe:Northern Europe: Denmark; Finland; Ireland; Norway; Sweden; United Kingdom;Middle Europe: Austria; Belgium; Czechoslovakia; Germany; Hungary; Netherlands; Poland; Switzerland;East Europe: Belarus; Estonia; Latvia; Lithuania; Ukraine [incl. Krym];Southeastern Europe: Albania; Bulgaria; Greece; Italy [incl. Sardinia, Sicily]; Romania; Yugoslavia;Southwestern Europe: France [incl. Corsica]; Portugal; Spain
Identification:
Ranges in height from 10-60 cm, with a basal cluster of four to eight shiny, oblong, blunt-tipped leaves, and two or three stem leaves. Most plants have darkly-spotted leaves, the degree of spotting being highly variable. There are 20-50 pinkish-purple flowers in a loose spike, which can be lax in woodland plants. The sepals spread upwards, almost touching above the loose hood formed by the upper sepal and blunter petals. The lip is broad, three-lobed with a notch in the central lobe, and with the crenated side lobes slightly reflexed. The centre of the lip is pale and marked with dark spots. The spur is stout, blunt and upturned. When the flowers are just opened the scent is usually sweet, like honey, but soon smells strongly of tom-cat's urine, a device which may serve to inform visiting insects that pollination has already occurred. It is normally monocarpic, depending entirely on seed for future generations, which explains the wide fluctuation in the number of flowering plants from year to year. White-flowered plants alb are not infrequent, and may form a high percentage of some populations, as in The Burren in Ireland; they have not been recorded in Scotland. Pink-flowered plants are less common. Plants with 'broken-coloured' flowers brf - pale pinkish-purple, but flecked all over with mauve spots - were first recorded in Gloucestershire in 1988, where they reappeared in 1991; such plants have also been seen in Wiltshire (1989), Kent (1991) and Sussex (2001).
Confusing Species: Very small, dark coloured plants with unspotted leaves may superficially resemble Green-winged Orchid, but lack the parallel green veins on the hood of that species.
Hybrids: The uncommon hybrid with Green-winged Orchid was recorded in Westmorland in 1985.
Habitat: Grows in a wide variety of habitats on neutral or calcareous soils, flourishing in particular in broadleaved woodland and coppices. It also grows on calcareous grassland, limestone pavement, road verges and beside damp flushes on coastal cliffs.
Pollination: Buff-tailed Bumblebees frequently visit the flowers. Less common pollinators recorded are solitary bees (possibly Eucera longicornis) and cuckoo bees of the genus Psithyrus (Bombus).
Conservation: Some populations have been lost from broad-leaved woodlands which have been cleared and replanted with conifers.
Reference:
1.Orchis mascula or Salep Orchid,Salabmisri and famous mucilage source.
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