Habenaria myodes Summerh.

No Data

maintenanceAr.Item1 maintenanceAr.Item3

Not known

Miller & Morris (1988) wrote that: "The tubers of both orchids (H. myodes and H. malacophylla) are edible, and the two species are considered to be simply variants of a single plant. The tubers can be eaten raw when they have a rather astringent and acrid taste, or alternatively (and preferably) cooked slowly with other small tubers and bulbs, such as Gladiolus ukambenensis (= G. candidus) [J: bedah]. They are extremely easy to pull up since the tuber grows close to the surface, and large quantities could be gathered quickly and with ease during the short growing season. They were, therefore, in hungrier times, an extremely important source of nourishment at this difficult time of year (called in J: ziyum) when life was at its hardest, livestock weak and unproductive, and other food scarce. However, these tubers were never actively liked or regarded as an annual treat as were the ... tubers of the Gladiolus, but rather were eaten out of hunger and necessity. This may be because of the unfortunate and embarrassing side effects that eating large amounts of the tubers caused (or small amounts of raw or insufficiently cooked tubers), namely anal pruritus and perianal inflammation". (Ref. Plants of Dhofar).

Ghazanfar, S. (2018). Flora of the Sultanate of Oman, vol.4: Hydrocharitaceae – Orchidaceae. Meise, National Botanic Garden of Belgium (Scripta Botanica Begica, Vol. 56). ISBN 9789492663153 ISSN 0779-2387. Miller, A., Morris, M. (1988). Plants of Dhofar, the Southern Region of Oman: Traditional, Economic, and Medicinal Uses. Published by Office of the Adviser for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, Sultanate of Oman; ISBN 10: 0715708082 ISSN 13: 9780715708088. https://en.wikipedia.org Gledhill, D. (2008). The Names of Plants. Fourth Edition. Cambridge University Press, UK. ISBN 978-0-521-86645-3 ISSN 978-0-521-68553-5. Patzelt, A. (2015). Oman Plant Red Data Book. Published by Diwan of Royal Court, Sultanate of Oman. Oman Botanic Garden Publication No. 1. ISBN 978-99969-50-10-0. POWO (2022). "Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet; http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org