Abstract
The word ‘orchid’ is derived from Greek, orchis which translates as ‘testicle’. Mediterranean terrestrial orchids are called salab in Arabic, meaning ‘fox’s testicle’; ‘salep’ is derived from salab. Following the statement in the Herbal of Dioscorides that these orchids were potent aphrodisiacs, there was a chorus of support by Theophrastus, Pliny, Avicenna and Maimonides, echoed centuries later by Renaissance physicians and herbalists. The belief prevailed into the nineteenth century: salep drinking only stopped after it was overtaken by tea and coffee. Orchid tubers employed as salep belonging to the genera Anacamptis, Dactylorhiza, Himantoglossum, Ophrys, Orchis and Satyrion. Dactylorhiza are still promoted as aphrodisiacs in several Asian countries, principally in Himalayan region. This chapter recounts the story of salep and how Shakespeare and other writers played with the name. It also showcases the development of botanical illustration using orchids as examples.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Chopra RN (1933) The indigenous drugs of India. The Art Press, Calcutta. Republished as Chopra’s Indigenous Plants of India, 2nd ed. Kolkata: Academic Publishers (1986)
Culpeper N (1652) Culpepper’s English physician and complete herbal. British Directory Office (stated as: printed for the author), London
Dalby A (2000) The name of the rose again; or, what happened to Theophrastus on Aphrodisiacs? Petits Propos Culinaires 64:9–15
Dymock W, Warden CJH, Hooper D (1893) A history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin met with in British India. Education Soc. Press, Bombay
Emboden WA (1974) Bizarre plants. Magical, monstrous, mythical. Macmillan, New York
Ercisli S, Esitken A, (2002) Orchids (salep) growing in Turkey. Proc. 12 WOC, Shah Alam, Malaysia, pp 242–244
Fairclough HR (tran.), Gould (ed) (2001) Virgil Aeneid 7–12. Vergiliana. Cambridge, Loeb Classic Library
Fernie WT (1914) Herbal simples approved for modern uses of cure, 3rd edn. John Wright & Sons, Bristol
Fragoso L (1575) De Succedaneis Medicamentis. P. Cosin, Madrid
Fuchs L (Fuchsius Leonhardus) (1542) De historia stirpium
Ghorbani A, Gravendeel B, Naghibi F, de Booer H (2014) Wild orchid tuber collection in Iran: a wake-up call for conservation. Biodivers Conserv 23:2749–2760
Ghorbani A et al (2017) DNA barcoding of tuberous Orchidoideae: a resource for identification of orchids used in Salep. Mol Ecol Resour 17(2):342–352
Grieve M (1971) A modern herbal, vol II. Hafner Publishing Co, New York
Griffith RE (1847) Medical botany: descriptions of the more important plants used in medicine, with their history, properties and mode of administration. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia
Hedley C (1888) Uses of Queensland plants. Proc Royal Society of Queensland 5:10–13
Hooper R, Akerly S (1829) Lexicon medicum or medical dictionary, 4th American edn. Collins and Hannay, New York, p 137
Krentz CAJ (2002) Turkiye’nin orkideleri salep, dondurma ve katliam. Yesil Atlas Degisi 5:99–109. (quoted by Tekinsen, 2009)
Lawler LJ (1984) Ethnobotany of the orchidaceae. In: Arditti J (ed) Orchid biology reviews & perspectives, vol 3. Cornell University Press, Ithaca
Lewis MWH (2009) Power and passion: the orchid in literature. In: Arditti J (ed) Orchid biology reviews and perspectives, vol V. Timber Press, Portland
Low T (1987) Australian wild foods. Ground orchids – salute to Saloop. Australian Natural History 22(5):202–203
Nuesch J (1963) Defense reactions in orchid bulbs. Symp Soc Gen Microbiol 13:335–343
Parkins (1809) The English Physician, enlarged with 369 medicines made of English herbs not in any former impression of Culpeper’s British Herbal. Crosby & Co., London
Sezik E (1967) Turkiye’nin Salepgilleri Ticari Salep Cesitleri ve Ozellikle Mugla Salebi Uzerinde Arastirmalar. Doctoral Thesis. Istanbul Universitesi Eczacihk Fakultesinde (In Turkish. Summary in English)
Sezik E (1990) Turkiye’nin orkideleri. Bilim ve Teknik 269:5–8. (quoted by Ericisli, Esitken, 2002)
Shakespeare W (1600) Hamlet
Tekinsen KK, Guner A (2009) Chemical composition and physicochemical properties of tubera salep produced from some Orchidaceae species. Food Chem 121:468–471
Teoh ES (2016) Medicinal orchids of Asia. Springer, Cham
Turner P (ed) (1962) Selections from The History of the World commonly called The Natural History of C. Plinus Secundus. Translated into English by P. Holland. Centaur Press, London
Turner W (1551) A new herbal. S. Mierdman, London. Parts II and III edited by GTL Chapman, F McCombie and A Wesencraft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995
Valetta A, Attorre F, Bruno F, Pasqua G (2008) In-vitro asymbiotic germination of Orchis mascula L. Plant Biosyst 142(3):653–655
Veitch NC, Grayer B (2001) Phytochemistry of Habenaria and Orchis. In: Pridgeon AM, Cribb PJ, Chase MW, Rasmussen FN (eds) Genera Orchidacearum, Vol. 2. Orchidoideae (Part One) Orchidoideae. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Wedeck HE (1961) Dictionary of aphrodisiacs. Philosophical Library, New York, p 216
Woodville W (1792) Medical botany. James Phillips, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Teoh, E.S. (2019). An Ancient Fantasy: Salep as Aphrodisiac. In: Orchids as Aphrodisiac, Medicine or Food. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18255-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18255-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-18254-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-18255-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)