Early Purple Orchid

Taxobox
name = PAGENAME

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Early Purple Orchid ("Orchis mascula")
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Liliopsida
ordo = Asparagales
familia = Orchidaceae
subfamilia = Orchidoideae
tribus = Orchideae
subtribus = Orchidinae
genus = "Orchis"
species = "O. mascula"
binomial = "Orchis mascula"
binomial_authority = L. 1755|

The Early Purple Orchid ("Orchis mascula") is a species in the orchid genus "Orchis". It grows across Mediterranean Europe and northeast Africa.

Its subspecies include:
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "acutiflora" (W.D.J.Koch) Quentin (1993)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "hispanica" (A.Niesch. & C.Niesch.) Soó (1972) (Southern Pyrenees, Spain, Portugal, Morocco)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "longibracteatoides" Balayer (1986) (Eastern Pyrenees)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "longicalcarata" Akhalkatski, H. Baumann, R. Lorenz, Mosulishvili &R. Peter (2005) (Eastern and central Caucasus)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "maghrebiana" B. Baumann & H. Baumann (2005)(Morocco)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "mascula" (N. & C. Europe to Iran, Canary Islands)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "pinetorum" (Boiss. & Kotschy) E.G.Camus (1908) (Macedonia to Iran)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "speciosa" (Mutel) Hegi (1909) (Europe)
* "Orchis mascula" subsp. "wanjkovii" (E.Wulff) Soó in G.Keller & al. (1932) (Crimea)

It is referred to as "long purple" by Gertrude in Shakespeare's Hamlet. Gertrude: "Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples, that liberal shepards give a grosser name,"

A flour made of the ground tubers is called salep or sachlav. In some magical traditions, its root is called Adam and Eve Root and is used in spellwork. [ [http://www.luckymojo.com/esoteric/occultism/magic/spells/tools.html Tools and Materials used in Spell-Casting ] ]

References