Orchidaceae tubers after detecting the plants underground by scent. Orchids have been used in traditional medicine in an effort to treat many diseases and ailments. They have been used as a source of herbal remedies in China since 2800 BC. "Gastrodia elata" is one of the three orchids listed in the earliest known Chinese Materia Medica ("Shennon bencaojing") (c. 100 AD). Theophrastus mentions orchids in his "Enquiry into Plants" (372–286 BC). Orchids have many associations with symbolic values. For example, the orchid is the City Flower of Shaoxing, China. "Cattleya mossiae" is the national Venezuelan flower, while "Cattleya trianae" is the
Flower in the Crannied Wall Flower in the Crannied Wall "Flower in the Crannied Wall" is an 1863 poem by Alfred Tennyson. <poem> Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower—but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what God and man is. </poem> Tennyson composed the poem by the wishing well at Waggoners Wells. The Tennyson memorial statue (1903) by George Frederic Watts at Lincoln shows him holding a flower in his hand and a plaque with this