NAT. ORDER 



Orchidece. 



GENIPA VANILLA. COMMON GENIPA 



Class XX. Gynandria. Order I. Monandria. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, ringent, uj^P^i" ^P vaulted. Lip, dilated. 



with a spur beneath. Pollens, two, terminal, adnate. 

 Spe. Char. Lip, obovate, undivided, crenate, retuse. Petals, 



straight, the lateral ones longer. Horn, clavate, shorter than 



the germen. Bracts, longer than the flower. Stem, leafless. 



This most beautiful shrub rises from three to eight feet in 

 height, sending off numerous branches ; the fruit of which very 

 much resembles that of the Theohroma cacao, (cocoa-nut.) and is 

 oftentimes used for similar purposes. The perianthium is superior 

 and ringent ; the sepals are three, usually colored, of which the 

 odd one is uppermost, in consequence of a twisting of the ova^ 

 rium ; the petals are three, usually colored, of which two are 

 uppermost, and one, called the Up, undermost ; this latter is fre- 

 quently lobed, of a different form from the others, and sometimes 

 spurred at the base ; the stamens are three, united in a central 

 column, the two lateral abortive, the central perfect, or the central 

 abortive, and the two lateral perfect ; the anthers are either per- 

 sistent, or deciduous, two, or four, or eight-celled ; the pollen is 

 powdery, and cohering in definite or indefinite waxy masses, 

 either constantly adhering to a gland, or becoming loose in their 

 cells ; the ovarium is one-celled, with three parietal placenta; the 

 sttjle forms part of the column of the stamens ; the stigma presents 

 a viscid space in front of the column, communicating directly with 



Vol. u— 70 



