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About 55 members and guests attended. After a brief
business meeting, AOS Student Judge and AAOS member Alex Challis presented a highly
informative, slideillustrated talk on "Other Uses for Orchids besides Growing and Killing Them."
He discussed the use of orchids in corsages, floral displays, cooking, and as aphrodisiacs and
magic charms.
We learned all sorts of strange and marvelous things about how orchids are used in different cultures, along with other information: The use of orchids as cut flowers is a 100-million-dollar industry.
Several orchid species are used as emblems or national flowers: for example, Neofinetia falcata in Japan, Cattleya skinneri in Costa Rica, Laelia purpurata in Brazil, and Lycaste skinneri alba in Guatemala.
Fibers from Vanda have been used to make anklets,
those from the canes of certain types of Dendrobium for basketry or weaving.
Dendrobium nobile
contains an alkaloid that can be lethal if large enough quantities are ingested but has been used in a
certain Chinese herbal medicine, Shih-Hu, since the Han Dynasty, 2000 years ago. Alkaloids in
certain species of Cycnoches have a narcotic effect.
Dendrobium pulchellum was fed to dogs to make them more skillful at hunting.
The pseudobulb of Coelogyne pandurata is cut in half and used as a chalkboard eraser.
Oncidium tigrinum (flor de los muertos, or "flower of the dead") is used to decorate graves on All Saints Day. A paste made from the angraecoid Aerangis is placed near hens' eggs to ensure hatching.
The pink lady's slipper, Cypripedium acaule, has been used to treat worms, diabetes, or kidney trouble.
A sticky substance from the corrns of our native orchid Aplectrum hyemale gave rise to its nickname "putty root," for it was used by pioneers to mend broken crockery. A sticky substance from the pseudobulbs of Cymbidium canaliculatum was used as glue.
The roots of Ansellia are used by Zulu youths to make unmarried girls temporarily sterile.
Cymbidium findlaysonianum was sprinkled on or fed to sick elephants.
Stanhopea tigrina is sometimes used to flavor tortillas.
Ann Arbor's Big Ten Party Store on Packard seems to have the cheapest Vanilla "beans" (seedpods) in Ann Arbor ($1.69 per "bean"); the best Vanilla comes from Mexico.
The underground corms or tubers of many terrestrial orchids are eaten by indigenous peoples in their native habitats. Salep is a starchy meal made in Asia Minor from tubers of the genus Orchis. The shape of the tubers resembles that of testicles, hence farmers in Europe used to feed Orchis tubers to bulls, rams, and stallions to insure that they would produce offspring.
Thanks to all our members who brought in refreshments or items for the raffle table. We had a special drawing for those who had paid their 1996 AAOS dues by January I st, and Ann Cooper won the $30 gift certificate from Taylor Orchids. Congratulations, Ann!