Authors:
- Unique book on the topics, first of its kind
- Comprehensive world-wide coverage of orchids and their utilization
- Beautifully illustrated with more than 330 woodblocks, paintings and photographs
Buy it now
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.
Table of contents (18 chapters)
-
Front Matter
About this book
Did you know that Vanilla was formerly served as aphrodisiac by Cassanova and Madam Pompadour, and Elizabeth I loved its flavor?
This is the first book that provides a complete worldwide coverage of orchids being employed as aphrodisiacs, medicine or charms and food. Opening with an in-depth historical account of orchids (orchis Greek testicle), the author describes how the Theory of Signatures influenced ancient herbalists to regard terrestrial orchid tubers as aphrodisiacs. Doctors and apothecaries promoted it during the Renaissance. Usage of orchids in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Indian Ayurvedic Medicine; by Tibetan yogins and Amchi healers for longevity pills, tonics and aphrodisiacs; by Africans to prepare 'health promoting' chikanda or as survival food when lost in the Australian bush are some highlights of the book. Early settlers in America and the East Indies often relied on native remedies and employment of orchids for such needs is described. Also covered are the search for medicinal compounds by scientists, attempts to prove the orchid's efficacy by experiment and the worry of conservationists.
Reviews
“This is an excellent, properly referenced, scholarly, richly illustrated, beautiful, well-written, and enjoyable book, which should be of value and interest to orchid growers, medical scientists, and botanists in general.” (Joseph Arditti, Plant Science Bulletin, Vol. 66 (1), 2020)
Authors and Affiliations
-
Singapore, Singapore
Eng Soon Teoh
About the author
He is author of a dozen books on orchids, lotus, medical topics, etc.
" .. an astonishing book for its encyclopaedic coverage of the use of orchids in Asian herbal medicine. … it should remain the standard reference book on the subject for decades."
Review of Eng Soon Teoh’s Medicinal Orchids of Asia (2016) by Henry Oakeley
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Orchids as Aphrodisiac, Medicine or Food
Authors: Eng Soon Teoh
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18255-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18254-0Published: 05 August 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-18257-1Published: 15 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-18255-7Published: 17 July 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 376
Number of Illustrations: 35 b/w illustrations, 394 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Life Sciences, Plant Sciences, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Food Science