144 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
Bentley and Trimen (‘ Medicinal Plants’) there are several varieties 
of Vanilla found in commerce, as Mexican or Vera Cruz, Bourbon, 
Mauritius, Java, La Guayra, Honduras, Brazilian, &c., the finest 
being the Mexican, of which there are different qualities. They 
further state that these varieties of vanilla are doubtless derived 
from different species of the plant. The finest, as the Mexican, is 
commonly said to be the product of V. planifolia, Andrew, 
synonymous with V. claviculata, Swartz; V. sylvestris and 
V. sativa, Scheide; V. viridifolia, Blume; and Myrobroma 
fragrans, Salisbury +. Scheide, a writer on the botany of 
Mexico {, considered the V. sylvestris as probably a synonym 
of V. planifolia; but Morren states § that the exactness of that 
opinion is not clearly demonstrated, and declares that the 
writings of Blume||, Swartz §, Plumier**, and Desvaux tt 
merely render more difficult the question as to which species, 
varieties, and sorts are to be attributed the vanilla of commerce ; 
also that this question could only be solved by an experienced 
naturalist who should examine the plants in the localities where 
they actually grow, compare the different Jength, thickness, shape, 
colour, flavour, and value of the fruit yielded by each species and 
variety, and accompany the diagnosis with drawings made on the 
spot. This argument does not authorize Jaillet to quote Morren 
as an authority for stating that the whole of the commercial 
vanilla is derived from V. planifolia; Morren simply says that 
the finest vanilla closely resembles the fruit of that plant. 
Vanilla is also found on the west slope of the Cordilleras, in 
Java, Mauritius, Seychelles islands, Tahiti, Cochin-China, Ja- 
maica, Guadeloupe, St. Marie, Mayotte, and Madagascar. It is 
cultivated at Mysore, in India. The principal centre of the pro- 
duction is the littoral of the State of Vera Cruz, in the hot 
low-lying ground called the “ terra caliente,” also in the Mexican 
* ‘Botanist’s Repository,’ ii. p. 538. 
+ ‘Paradisus Londinensis,’ t. 82. 
t ‘ Botanische Berichte aus Mexico,’ 1820. 
§ Bulletins de l’Académie Royale de Belgique, xvii. 1° partie, p. 180. 
|| ‘Flor. Javee,’ Bijdragen, p. 422, and ‘ Rumphia,’ i. pp. 197-8. 
€| Nova Acta Upsal. vi. p. 66; Fl. Ind. Occid., and Schrader’s Journ. Bot. 
iy fig el 
** «Plantarum Americanum,’ and Catesby’s Hist. Nat. de la Caroline, iii. 
tab. 7. 
tf Annales des Scierces Naturelles, 3¢ série, 1846, p. 117. 
