Orchis sancta, is a botanical species of flowering plant included in the orchid genus Orchis of the subfamily Orchidoideae in the family Orchidaceae. They are distributed throughout the eastern Mediterranean. They are terrestrial in habit and have tubers.
The leaves are oblong with a length of 5 cm, they grow from underground nodules that have a maximum size of 6 cm and are round.
The inflorescences, which are erect in an oblong to cylindrical spike, emerge from the basal rosette of leaves, the stem being 1/3 covered by a light green bract.
It has a dense flowering with small flowers. The three sepals are equal in size and are welded converging towards the center, forming a kind of helmet that covers the column. The sepals have a uniform purple color on the upper surface, and a less intense pink color on the underside.
The lip protrudes 2/3 from under the helmet and is a more or less uniform deep pink color. The lip has an indentation at the end of the lower part with two wider lateral lobes and the narrower and elongated intermediate appendage. The two lobes, one on each side at the bottom that are slightly arched outwards and downwards with small lateral indentations. These lobes give the letter H appearance to the lip. It has two more very reduced petals that arch upwards, joining the sepals to form the helmet.
Blooming from April to June. The color can vary from white to different shades of pink.
It develops in meadows and fields in direct sunlight or partial shade.
It is native to the eastern Mediterranean area, Greece, the island of Crete, Turkey, Lebanon, and Syria.
The flour from its tubers called salep is very nutritious and demulcent. It is used in special diets for convalescents and children. It is very rich in mucilage and forms a demulcent and soft gelatin that is used for irritated gastrointestinal tract. One part flour with fifty parts water is enough to form gelatin. The tuber to prepare the flour must be collected when the plant is freshly dried after flowering and when it has released the seeds.