"Reka" wrote in message
...
From "The Times of India"
Orchids for every season, reason
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, APRIL 08, 2004 02:58:58 AM ]
snip
In fact, the name orchid is
derived from a Greek word based on it's two tubers that have immense
medicinal value. The ancient Greeks, it appears, were more impressed with
the medicinal properties than the beauty of the colourful blooms.

Hmm, actually, from what I have read it wasn't the medicinal qualities of
these tubers that inspired the Greeks.
Here is what Webster's has to say on the origin of the word: "orchid (Gr.:
orchis; lit.: testicle): from the shape of the roots". Apparently the
orchids that grow in the Mediteranean region have tubers that are very
suggestive in shape. I first read about this in the book "Ultimate Orchid"
by Thomas Sheehan (published by the Smithsonian and the American Orchid
Society), a really excellent photo album of orchid genera, as well as a good
source of some interesting orchid trivia, such as

"Pliny's Natural History (AD 77) the origin of the Doctrine of Signatures,
in which it was believed that God indicated the usefulness of a plant
through its appearance, referred to the sexual power of orchids. Also in the
first century AD, the Greek physician Dioscorides indicated that orchids
were useful for treating genital problems."

So, you see the statement from the Times of India is a bit tame by
comparison and maybe giving the ancient Greeks a bit too much credit by
making it sound like they had a purely scientific interest in orchids ...
yeah, right.

Joanna