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Common Name: Fragrant Orchid

General Information

Gymnadenia conopsea is a Bulb up to 0.30 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Europe, including Britain, to north and west Asia.

Habitat

Locally abundant in base-rich grassland, especially on chalk or limestone, fens and marshes[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Bulb
Height	0.30 m
Pollinators	Moths
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Very easily grown in any good moist soil[]. Requires a deep rich soil[].
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[].
A polymorphic species[], it also hybridizes readily with other members of the genus[].
The flowers have a delicious perfume which is more pronounced at night in order to attract Night Hawk-moths for pollination[]. The sub-species G. conopsea densiflora has larger, more strongly scented flowers[].
This species is a colonizer of disturbed ground and bare soils, new colonies can spring up many kilometres from the plants nearest known locality[]. They have been known to colonize sites such as waste heaps of clinker at power stations[].
Plants are very impatient of root disturbance[].

Edible Uses

Bulb - cooked. Very nutritious[, , ]. It is a source of 'salep', a fine white to yellowish-white powder that is obtained by drying the tuber and grinding it into a flour[, , ]. Salep is a starch-like substance with a sweetish taste and a faint somewhat unpleasant smell[]. It is said to be very nutritious and is made into a drink or can be added to cereals and used in making bread etc[, ]. One ounce of salep is said to be enough to sustain a person for a day[, ].

Medicinal

Salep (see above for more details) is very nutritive and demulcent[]. It has been used as a diet of special value for children and convalescents, being boiled with water, flavoured and prepared in the same way as arrowroot[]. Rich in mucilage, it forms a soothing and demulcent jelly that is used in the treatment of irritations of the gastro-intestinal canal[]. One part of salep to fifty parts of water is sufficient to make a jelly[]. The tuber, from which salep is prepared, should be harvested as the plant dies down after flowering and setting seed[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - surface sow, preferably as soon as it is ripe, in the greenhouse and do not allow the compost to dry out. The seed of this species is extremely simple, it has a minute embryo surrounded by a single layer of protective cells. It contains very little food reserves and depends upon a symbiotic relationship with a species of soil-dwelling fungus. The fungal hyphae invade the seed and enter the cells of the embryo. The orchid soon begins to digest the fungal tissue and this acts as a food supply for the plant until it is able to obtain nutrients from decaying material in the soil[]. It is best to use some of the soil that is growing around established plants in order to introduce the fungus, or to sow the seed around a plant of the same species and allow the seedlings to grow on until they are large enough to move.
Division in autumn. The plant is very intolerant of root disturbance, any moving or dividing should be attempted in the autumn, keep a large ball of soil around the plant[].
Division of the tubers as the flowers fade[]. This species produces a new tuber towards the end of its growing season. If this is removed from the plant as its flowers are fading, the shock to the plant can stimulate new tubers to be formed. The tuber should be treated as being dormant, whilst the remaining plant should be encouraged to continue in growth in order to give it time to produce new tubers[].
Division can also be carried out when the plant has a fully developed rosette of leaves but before it comes into flower[]. The entire new growth is removed from the old tuber from which it has arisen and is potted up, the cut being made towards the bottom of the stem but leaving one or two roots still attached to the old tuber. This can often be done without digging up the plant. The old tuber should develop one or two new growths, whilst the new rosette should continue in growth and flower normally[].