Tab. 7107. 

 vanilla planifolia. 

 Native of Mexico. 



Nat. Ord. OfiCuiDE_. Tribe Neottie_ 

 Genus Vanilla, Swartz. (Benth. & Ilook.f. Gen. Plant vol. iii. p. 590). 



Vanilla plunifolia; caule robusto tereti, foliia breviter crasso petiolatis 

 oblongo-lanceolatis longe acuminatis crassis nervis obscuris, rncemis 

 multifloria breviter pedunculatis, rachi crassa, pedieellis incnrvis, floribus 

 amplis flavesceiitibus, sepalis petalisque oblanceolatis labelli tubo bucci- 

 niformi intus penicillo columnar anteposito instructo, limbi parri lobis re- 

 volutis crenulatis lateralibus brevibus intermedio retuso creberrime striato- 

 carinato carinis crenulatis, coluinna antice villosa capsula 8-9-pollicari. 



V. planifolia, Andrews Bot. Rep. vol. viii. t. 538; Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 7.V3 ; 

 Lindl. Gen. & Sp. Orchid, p. 435; Blume, HumpMa, vol. i. p. 198, t. 68; 

 Hayne Arzneigew. vol. xiv. t. 22 ; Morrcn, in hull. Acad. S'r. Bruxellet 

 iv. (1837) 225 j xvii. (1850) 108; in Com/des Rendu Am-/. Fr. (1838) 489; 

 • Berg, et Sch. Offic. Geivdcfise, vol. xxiii. t. a, b ; Tklttil, Etudes sur la 

 Vanilla, 1874; De Vriese, Be Vaniehe. p. 22; Kohler Medxz. Pflanz.; 

 Benth. & Trim. Med. PL vol. iii. t. 272; Fliick. & llaubury Pharma- 

 cograph. Ed. 2, p. 657. 



V. viridiflora, Blume Bijdr. p. 422. 



Myrobroma fragrans, Salisb. Farad. Lond. t. 82. 



Vanilla flore viridi et albo, fructu nigrescente, Plum. Nov. Gen. PI. Am. 25 

 (1703). 



Araeo aromatico, Hernandez Thesaur., Rev. Med. Nov. BTup. 38 (1651), with 



fi g- . 



An excellent account of the History of the Vanilla is 

 given in Hanbury and Fliickiger's Pharmacographia cited 

 above, from which I have taken the following account. 

 According to these authors it was found to be n^cd by the 

 natives of Mexico as a condiment to chocolate on' the 

 occupation of that country by the Spaniards, who intro- 

 duced it into Europe. The first botanical notice of it is by 

 Clusius, in his " Exoticorum Libri," lib. iii. c. 18, 72 

 (1C05), who received a specimen of it from Morgan, 

 apothecary to Queen Elizabeth, in 1602, and who described 

 it as " Lobus oblongus aromaticus," without being aware 

 of its native country or uses. It was, however, known 

 much earlier to Hernandez, for the figure in his Thesau- 

 rus, which appeared in 1651, was one of a series of 1200 

 executed at great cost in Mexico, by order of the King of 



Aphil 1st, 1891. 



