(last page)Orchis, kämmekät

Orchis has had its name (in ancient Greek it means testicle) from its tubers, they are round and close together, looking like a pair of tiny testicles: the one grown in last year is brown and dry, the grown in the same year in white and wet. In Mediterranean area and in Middle.Europe, where this is one of the most common genuses of orchids, the new tubers were used to make men more capable, and old tubers were used for ower-exited men. In those times people thought that the things we eat can show us with theyre shape, that what they can be used for. The liguid inside the tubers is called Salep, and it is still used in some countries to foods expecially in Turkey.  The genus has been divided to several groups some time ago, but it does not affect species growing in Finland. 

The genus is nearly entirely European, but one species is even thought to be growing in America. All species are very rare in Finland 

 

1: militaris - soikkokämmekkä 
2: mascula - miehenkämmekkä 
  



  
 These pages has been made and updated by Matti Niissalo, sophronitis@yahoo.com