File:Knabenkraut (256621249).jpeg

500px provided description: Orchis militaris The rare military orchid earns its name from the appearance of the pink to purplish flowers, which look like small soldiers. They have an ash coloured 'helmet' formed from three sepals, the petals are hidden by the helmet but the white lip which projects downwards from the helmet has distinct 'arms' and 'legs', spotted with red 'tunic buttons'. Orchis militaris contains the nutritious polysaccharide glucomannan, and is one of the original species of orchid whose ground-up roots are used to make the drink salep. Ancient Romans used ground orchid bulbs to make drinks, which they called by a number of names, especially satyrion and priapiscus. As the names indicate, they likewise considered it to be a powerful aphrodisiac.

In England, the drink was known as saloop. its preparation required that the salep powder be added to water until thickened whereupon it would be sweetened, then flavored with orange flower or rose water. The beverage sahlab is now often made with hot milk instead of water. Other desserts are also made from salep flour, including salep pudding and salep ice cream. [#spring ,#flower ,#floral ,#closeup ,#petal ,#blossom ,#orchids ,#blooming ,#flower head ,#wildflower]