Ann (Jesup) wrote "the 'tourist-oriented' article on drinking salep... make me uneasy because there seems to be no recognition that... are ways of killing and/or hurting wild populations of lovely, fragile terrestrial orchid species.
To my knowledge, there are still no propagation methods being used to repopulate or sustain wild populations of the terrestrial orchids harvested to make salep. There have been some synthesized saleps but I don't see any mention of these being used. Does anybody have any information on either of these attempts to save those terrestrial orchids in the wild?" Thanks for commenting. As most readers who subscribe to this discussion list realize, when I share quotes from articles I read, I do not necessary agree with the assertions of the authors or the persons who are quoted by the authors of the articles. In 2006 and 2007, I published an article, in three parts, on the uses of orchids in the French magazine 'Orchidees, Culture et Protection'. I was asked by a member of the editorial board to indicate that salep was "dangerous". Of course, I was skeptical about that request. Why would salep be considered dangerous nowadays when it has been used for hundreds of years. In fact, the person who made the comment was preoccupied about the negative impact of the harvest of large quantities of orchid bulbs from which salep is produced on the survival of some species. I did make some extensive research on the subject and wrote an article exploring different aspects of the production of salep. The second part of that article is soon to be published in the 'Lafayette Orchid Society Newsletter' [Indiana], probably the best newsletter produced by an orchid society in the United States. As far as propagation methods -- to replace the plants being used -- are concerned, I am not aware either of any action in that sense. Turkisk legislation concerning salep harvest does exist : see Kasparek, Max and Ute Grimm, 1999 European trade in Turkish salep with special reference to Germany in 'Economic Botany', Bronx, N.Y. : New York Botanical Garden. Oct/Dec 1999. v. 53 (4) p. 396-406. In the same article, the authors comment on the "Acceptance of Salep Substitutes on the Market". ***************** Regards, Viateur _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
