MR. R. ALLEN ROLFE ON THE GENUS VANILLA. 439 
A Revision of the Genus Vanilla. By R. ALLEN RO.FE, A.LS., 
Assistant in the Herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 
[Read 19th December, 1895. ] 
. Historical Introduction, p. 439. 
. Fertilization, p. 442. 
. Affinities, p. 443. 
. Classification, p. 443. 
Geographical Distribution, p. 443. 
. Economic Uses, p. 444. 
. Generic Characters, p. 445. 
. Key to Species, p. 446. 
. Description of Species, p. 449. 
DHNAME WH 
A PAPER entitled ‘‘ Vanillas of Commerce” appeared in the 
Kew Bulletin in August, 1895 (pp. 169-178), in which the 
history of the species yielding aromatic fruits, more or less used 
in commerce, was given. In preparing that account it became 
increasingly apparent that the economic species had been 
hopelessly confused, both with each other and with those 
whose fruits are not aromatic, and, therefore, with the 
Directors’ sanction, I undertook to revise the botany of the 
genus so far as the somewhat imperfect materials at hand 
permitted, and the results are embodied in the present paper. 
Ihave to thank the authorities of the British Museum for 
facilities in comparing the specimens in that establishment, and 
those of the Royal Botanic Garden, Berlin, for the loan of 
types of two species described by Klotzsch. 
HisroricaL INTRODUCTION. 
The earliest botanical notice of a species of Vanilla is given 
by Clusius in his ‘ Exoticorum Libri Decem,’ published in 1605, 
where fruits of the true Mexican Vanilla of commerce are 
described under the name of Lobus oblongus aromaticus (p. 72). 
They had been obtained from Hugh Morgan, apothecary to 
Queen Elizabeth, but nothing appears to have been known of 
their native country or uses. In 1651 Hernandez figured the 
characteristic growth and fruits of the plant under the name of 
Araco aromatico (‘Nova Plantarum Mexicanorum Historia,’ 
p- 38), mentioning its use as a drug and recording its native 
