2 Prof. Chas. Morren on the Cultivation of Vanilla. 



§ I. Of the specie* of Vanilla Plant which produces the long 



and fine pods of Commerce, 



Were we to believe most authors, (and I may even go so 

 far as to say all) the Vanilla aromatica of Swartz, described 

 by Robert Brown in the c Ilortus Kewensis' (vol. v.), would be 

 the only one which produces the vanilla of commerce. This 

 should have been the species introduced into Europe in 1739 

 by Henry Philip Miller; but it appears that it is not at all to 

 be found at the present time in England, for I sought for it 

 in vain in the gardens of London and its environs. I did not 

 see it at Kew. It appears moreover that several species are con- 

 founded under this name, as M. Schiede has already pointed 

 out in his botanical observations made in Mexico (Linna3a, 

 vol. iv. 1829, p. 5 54 — 583), for, as he says, in Kunth's f Synop- 

 sis/ we find assembled under this name Mexican species and 

 others from Southern and Western America. The charac- 

 ter which has been assigned to it of having nerved leaves 

 (foliis nervosis) may possibly have arisen from bad culture, 

 for in this case the Vanilla planifolia also has nerved leaves; 

 or because dry leaves have been examined ; for then again 

 the leaves of the Vanilla planifolia are no longer smooth, but 

 much wrinkled longitudinally, that is to say nerved. In short, 

 the assertion that the pods of the vanilla of commerce are 

 produced by the Vanilla aromatica rests upon no certain or 

 known fact, but in a great measure upon the belief which 

 existed that the Vanilla planifolia bore no odoriferous fruit, a 

 thing which my owm researches have proved to be completely 

 false. 



It is singular that there is not a better agreement with re- 

 gard to the Vanilla planifolia, especially since the publications 

 of M. Schiede. This botanist thinks that two distinct spe- 

 cies are confounded under this name, both of which he found 

 in Mexico ; the one, the Vanilla sativa, Schiede, the leaves 

 of which are oblong, succulent, the bracteas small, and the 

 fruit without grooves ; and the other, the Vanilla sylvestris> 

 Schiede, the leaves of which are oblong-lanceolate, succulent, 

 the bracteae small, and the fruit with two grooves. It is 

 to be regretted that M. Schiede should have confined him- 



