SALEP. Salep misri, ARAI3., HIND., PERS.
Oriental salep is probably obtaineAkfrom Eulophia vera. and E. campestris. European _salep is obtained from Orchis mascula, W.; O. iatifolia, O. mono, 1V.; O. militaris, 1V.; 0,papilionacea, TV.; O. coriophoira, Per.S. ; and O. undulatifolia ; aud Taccaialep from Tama pinnatifida. The tubers of the orehis are compressed, ovoid, rather trans parent, and composed chiefly of bassorine, soluble gum, and a large proportion of amylaceous matter or starch. One drachm of the powdered root requires 60 drachms of boiling water to effect its solution ; two drachms afford a sufficient meal for an invalid. Good salep carefully prepared is one of the best articles of diet a convalescent can use. In India the salep of Kashmir from E. vera is reckoned the best. It is also imported from the Persian Gulf. From the peculiar shape of the tubers, it has gained immense, but most unmerited, celebrity as an aphrodisiac. The same circum stance has given the orchis plant its name both in the Greek and Arabic language. Native practi
tioners prescribe it in conjunction with mastic and some other ingredients, in such cases as require tonics. In England it is supposed the chocolate-makers grind it up with cocoa ; by Europeans it is frequently used for children as an easily digestible form of farinaceous food, consisting mostly of bassorine. Residents of Simla and Ootaeamund (in the Neilgherries) are in the habit of collecting the tubers of several orchids for family consumption. Tacca plant abounds in certain parts of Arakan, and the Mug race prepare the farina for export to the China market. After removing the peel, the root is grated on a fish-skin, and the pulp having been stmined through a coarse cloth, is washed three or four times in water, and then dried in the sun. Mr. Nuttall (American Journal of Pharmacy, ix. p. 305) says the Otaheite salep is obtained from a new species of Tacca, which lie names thc geeanica.
. SALEP-i,SHAITAN. PERS. Conitun macu latum ; Cicuta virosa. .