orchis

American  

[awr-kis] / ˈɔr kɪs /

noun

1. any orchid.

2. any of various terrestrial orchids, especially of the genus Orchis, of temperate regions, having spikelike flowers.

3. fringed orchis.

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orchis British  

/ ˈɔːkɪs /

noun

1. any terrestrial orchid of the N temperate genus Orchis, having fleshy tubers and spikes of typically pink flowers

2. any of various temperate or tropical orchids of the genus Habenaria, such as the fringed orchis

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Etymology

Origin of orchis

1555–65; < Latin < Greek órchis testicle, plant with roots like testicles

Example Sentences

The same can be said of salep, a fine powder ground from dried orchis tubers used in the Middle East to thicken ice cream.

From Newsweek

The flowering rush spreads its pale pink blossoms; a deeper crimson is the marsh orchis showing its spires among the drooping clusters of the waxy-pink, cross-leaved heath, and the green or pale and rosy-tinted bog-mosses.

From The Broom-Squire by Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)

What advantage does the orchis Spiranthes, well called autumnalis, gain from flowering in August or September? 

From Springtime and Other Essays by Darwin, Francis, Sir

And—yes! there is actually a honey-bee droning about that orchis, singing his welcome song of home, and fire-sides, and kindly greetings!

From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 3, October, 1851 by Various

It was, he showed me, the root of a species of orchis that was employed in making the philters.

From My Schools and Schoolmasters or The Story of my Education. by Miller, Hugh