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