The Orchid in Lore and Legend

by Berliocchi, Luigi

• ISBN13: 9780881926163
• ISBN10: 0881926167
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-01
• Publisher: Timber Press

Summary

The orchid is the most evocative of flowers, inspiring in some of its admirers a fanaticism akin to madness, as demonstrated in Susan Orlean's The Orchid Thief. This elegant survey of the orchid treats its place in legend and suggests the impact that these exotic plants---whose "exuberance and heavy, sensual beauty ... seemed to bear witness to some original sin"---had on the temperate European mind. Berliocchi chronicles the adventurers and scientists who introduced these marvels, discusses their place in the arts from literature and magic to cuisine and concludes with accounts of the most important genera and their cultivation. Splendidly illustrated with period engravings and botanical paintings, it is literate and delightful.

Author Biography

Luigi Berliocchi (1953-1999) was a lecturer in garden history at the University of Reggio Calabria. He also wrote the text for Vanished Gardens of Rome as well as a study of the origin and history of Mediterranean plants and their presence in art. Mark Griffiths, also edited the four-volume New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 7
Preface	p. 9
Myths and Legends	p. 13
From Prehistory to History	p. 27
Prehistory	p. 27
Antiquity in the East	p. 28
Antiquity in the West	p. 32
Modern History	p. 39
Patrons and Hunters	p. 57
Arts and Customs	p. 87
Literature	p. 88
Art	p. 94
Magic	p. 98
Religion	p. 104
Medicine	p. 106
Edible Orchid Products	p. 108
The Plant	p. 115
Habitat	p. 115
Plant Structure and Behavior	p. 120
The Genera	p. 131
Cattleya	p. 131
Cymbidium	p. 134
Dendrobium	p. 137
Epidendrum and Encyclia	p. 139
Laelia	p. 140
Miltonia and Miltoniopsis	p. 142
Odontoglossum	p. 144
Oncidium	p. 146
Paphiopedilum and Other Slipper Orchids	p. 148
Phalaenopsis	p. 150
Vanda	p. 152
European Orchids	p. 154
Growing Orchids	p. 161
Sources	p. 173
Index of Orchids	p. 179
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Around one hundred orchid species have been used in cooking throughout the world. Some are still in use although the orchid has generally lost its popularity as an ingredient. One example is from Malawi, where markets sell the tubers of a species of Disa, a genus that produces some of Africa's most spectacular flowers. When these tubers are cooked and treated, they are an excellent side dish. Although rarely and only when suffering the pangs of hunger, early colonists of North America fed on terrestrial orchid roots. They had probably observed Native Americans who often used them. One Arizona tribe used orchid roots to make flour. They also extracted latex from tubers to make a natural form of chewing gum. Farther south, Mexico is the native land of Stanhopea tigtina, whose magnificent, highly scented flowers were sometimes used to make tortillas. In India, many parts of Cymbidium species - young tender shoots, thick pseudobulbs, and juicy leaves - were used for a variety of dishes. Australia and Tasmania are places where humans once consumed large numbers of orchids. There, perhaps due to the difficulty of farming the arid land, Aborigines used to harvest the tubers of some of the five hundred species of terrestrial orchids. In the past, many travelers mentioned a concoction called yam, made of orchid tubers, dried and mixed together to make a sweet substance that children adored. A number of species of Cymbidium were also used to obtain a kind of meal or starchy powder. Generally, however, the Aborigines would roast their orchids - tubers or pseudobulbs - wrapped in the plant's own leaves.