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
The Exaltation of the Flower and disagree on others. British Greek art scholar Martin Robertson notes that both women can be seen wearing the tubular peplos garment common to the Classical period. According to the descriptive text found in the Atlas database of the exhibited works of art at the Louvre, the women also are wearing a "kekryphalos", a hairnet in the Greco-Roman hairstyle, and appear to hold a type of flower, perhaps poppy or pomegranate. One of the women in the stele carries what resembles a bag, presumed to be carrying seeds in the interpretation. In his 1868 paper, Heuzey argued that the images