Orchis morio
L.
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Oleksandr Shynder, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Summary
Source: WikipediaSmall bulbous plant reaching 0.3m in height. Hardy to UK zone 5 and tolerates frost. Foliage present April to August; flowers bloom May to June with seeds ripening in July. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils across a range of pH levels including very alkaline. Requires full sun and tolerates both dry and moist soil. Hermaphroditic flowers are pollinated by bees and lepidopterans.
Description
Small bulbous plant reaching 0.3m in height. Hardy to UK zone 5 and tolerates frost. Foliage present April to August; flowers bloom May to June with seeds ripening in July. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils across a range of pH levels including very alkaline. Requires full sun and tolerates both dry and moist soil. Hermaphroditic flowers are pollinated by bees and lepidopterans.
Edible Uses
The tuber is cooked and processed into salep — a fine white to yellowish-white powder produced by drying and grinding the tuber. Salep is a starch-like substance with a sweetish taste and a faintly unpleasant smell. It is considered highly nutritious and can be prepared as a drink or mixed with cereals for use in bread. One ounce of salep is said to be enough to sustain a person for a day.
Traditional Uses
The tubers/bulbs are used as a coffee substitute.
This uses section is brief — help expand it
Medicinal Uses
Salep is both nutritive and demulcent. It has been used as a specially valued food for children and convalescents, prepared by boiling with water and flavouring in the same manner as arrowroot. Its high mucilage content forms a soothing jelly used to treat irritations of the gastro-intestinal canal. A ratio of one part salep to fifty parts water is sufficient to make this jelly. The tuber should be harvested as the plant dies down after flowering and setting seed.
Distribution
It is a temperate plant.
Where It Grows
Balkans, Europe, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Turkey, Türkiye,
Cultivation
Prefers a sunny position and a good loamy soil. Requires a deep rich soil. Grows well in a sunny dry border or on a scree. Orchids are, in general, shallow-rooting plants of well-drained low-fertility soils. Their symbiotic relationship with a fungus in the soil allows them to obtain sufficient nutrients and be able to compete successfully with other plants. They are very sensitive to the addition of fertilizers or fungicides since these can harm the symbiotic fungus and thus kill the orchid. This symbiotic relationship makes them very difficult to cultivate, though they will sometimes appear uninvited in a garden and will then thrive. Transplanting can damage the relationship and plants might also thrive for a few years and then disappear, suggesting that they might be short-lived perennials. Plants seem to be immune to the predations of rabbits. The flowers have a powerful scent that is not particularly pleasant. Those forms with lighter coloured flowers have a more pleasant scent. Cultivated plants are very susceptible to the predation of slugs and snails. Plants can occasionally appear in lawns where they will increase freely if allowed to set seed. The lawn should not be mown early in the year before or immediately after flowering. If you want to try establishing plants in a lawn then plant out the bulbs whilst the plant is dormant, preferably in the autumn. Bulbs can also be transplanted with a large ball of soil around the roots when they are in leaf, they are impatient of root disturbance.
Propagation
Sow seed on the compost surface in a greenhouse, preferably as soon as it is ripe, keeping the compost consistently moist. The seed has a minute embryo enclosed in a single protective cell layer with minimal food reserves, and relies on a symbiotic relationship with a soil-dwelling fungus. Fungal hyphae invade the embryo cells and provide nourishment until the seedling can access nutrients from decaying organic matter in the soil. Use soil from around established plants to introduce the fungus, or sow directly around an existing plant of the same species and grow on until seedlings are large enough to transplant. Division of tubers can be attempted as flowers fade. This species generates a new tuber toward the end of its growing season; removing it as flowers fade can stimulate the parent plant to produce additional tubers. The removed tuber should be kept dormant, while the parent plant should be encouraged to keep growing to allow new tuber formation. Division can also be carried out once a full rosette has developed but before flowering: detach the entire new growth from the old tuber, making the cut near the base of the stem but leaving one or two roots on the old tuber. This can often be done without digging up the plant. The old tuber should then produce one or two new growths, while the detached rosette continues growing and flowers normally.
Other Uses
No other uses are known. The plant is noted for its scent.
Also Known As
Gelincik salebi, Kachunka
References (3)
- Ertug, F, Yenen Bitkiler. Resimli Türkiye Florası -I- Flora of Turkey - Ethnobotany supplement
- Miskoska-Milevska, E. et al, 2020, Traditional uses of wild edible plants in the Republic of North Macedonia. PHYTOLOGIA BALCANICA 26(1): 155–162, Sofia, 2020 p 159
- Rexhepi, B., et al, 2018, Ethnobotanical Study of Wild Edible Plants in Pelagonia Region (Southwestern Macedonia) International Journal of Advances in Science Engineering and Technology, Vol. 6 (1) p 57
