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
Frank A. Flower State of Wisconsin as the State Labor Statistician and later became the Chief Statistician. From 1883 to 1887, he was the first Wisconsin Labor Commissioner. In 1899, he was appointed Chief of the Agricultural Division of the Census. In 1895, Flower was the Executive Secretary for the International Deep Waterways Association, championing the improvement of cargo ship traffic from the Great Lakes with New York City. Flower said, "New-York may not want us to come down to tidewater with our unbroken cargoes of grain and merchandise, but New-York does not always know what is best for herself." Booker T. Washington