VANGUERIA 



VANILLA 



3433 



pyrenes 5-3 in numl>er or putamen 5-3-celled. About 

 70 species, tropical and subtropical regions of the world, 

 Austral, excepted. Considered a section of Epimedium 

 by Prantl, in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenreich III. 2. 



The voa vanga of Madagascar is a tropical fruit that 

 has been recommended by the American Pomological 



3904. Vandopsis lissochiloides. 



Society as worthy of cultivation in southern Florida. 

 The fruit is imperfectly described in horticultural 

 writings. It is said to be a delicious berry % inch thick, 

 but in Mauritius it becomes \Yi inches thick. It is a 

 globose drupe, shaped something like an apple and con- 

 tains five large "stones" or bony pyrenes. The plant is 

 a shrub 10 to 15 feet high. The species is widely spread 

 in the tropics of the Old World. It was introduced to 

 American horticulture by A. I. Bidwell, of Orlando, 

 Florida. In 1887, the late H. E. Van Deman reported 

 that the shrub grew exceedingly well, sprouting readily 

 from the roots when frozen down. It grows readily 

 from imported seeds. 



madagascariensis, J. F. Gmel. Glabrous shrub, 10- 

 15 ft. high: Ivs. very large, oblong, obtuse or acute, 

 membranous, short-petioled : fls. in copious, peduncled, 

 axillary dichotomous cymes; corolla funnel-shaped, 

 y\\&. long, with 5 spreading deltoid teeth. Madagascar. 



infausta, Burch. Shrub, 4-10 ft. high, tawny-tomen- 

 tose, unarmed, sometimes a small tree: Ivs. ovate, oval, 

 or suborbicular, horizontal, usually rounded or obtuse 

 at base, greenish above, rather paler beneath: fls. 

 greenish, 5-merous, J^in. long; calyx-lobes ovate or 

 oval; corolla-tube cylindrical, glabrous, lobes ovate; 

 ovary 5-3-celled: fr. globose, smooth, glabrous. Trop. 

 Afr. B.M. 3014 (as V. veliitina). Fr.said by some to be 

 edible. Intro, into S. Calif. p. TRACT HUBBARD.! 



VANHOUTTEA (named for Louis Van Houtte, a 

 Belgian nurseryman). Syn., Hoiittea. Gesneriacex. Low 

 branching appressed-hairy shrubs, probably adapted 

 only to warmhouse culture: Ivs. opposite, fleshy, 



crowded at the ends of the branches, lower surface more 

 or less canescent-felty: fls. solitary, axillary, long- 

 pedicelled, red or speckled; calyx-tube adnate to 

 the ovary, 5-ribbed, lobes elongated, acute; corolla- 

 tube elongated-cylindrical, lobes 5, rounded, spread- 

 ing disk broad with 5 glands, the 2 posterior usually 

 grown together; ovary almost entirely inferior: caps. 

 with a twisted beak. About 5 species, Brazil. V. 

 calcarata, Lem. (Hoiittea pardina, Decne. Gesnera par- 

 dina, Hook.). St. about 1H ft. high, erect, rather 

 stout, terete, brown, branched: Ivs. rather stoutly 

 petioled, elliptical, acute, rather thick and fleshy, 

 strongly serrated, downy above and more so beneath: 

 peduncle axillary, solitary, 1-fld., shorter than the Ivs.: 

 calyx-tube turbinate, adherent with the lower part of 

 the ovary, segms. large, acute, spreading; corolla \Yz 

 in. or more long, ochre-red, yellow within, spotted 

 with deep red, especially the limb and tube inside ; ovary 

 semi-inferior, hairv, with 5 yellow glands. Brazil. 

 B.M. 4348. H.U. 6, p. 289. Cult, probably as for 

 achimenes and similar plants. jr_ TRACY HUBBARD. 



VANfLLA (Spanish, little sheath or pod}. Orchidacese. 

 VANILLA. Climbing orchids whose branched stems 

 ascend to a height of many feet, ornamental but known 

 mostly as the source of vanilla used for flavoring and 

 which is produced from the seed-pods. 



Nodes bearing Ivs. or scales and aerial roots in 

 alternate arrangement: fls. in axillary racemes or 

 spikes, without an involucre at the top of the ovary; 

 sepals and petals similar, spreading; Labellum united 

 with the column, the limb enveloping the upper por- 

 tion of the latter; column not winged. About 20 

 species in the tropics. The genus was monographed in 

 1896 by R. A. Rolfe in Journ. Linn. Soc., vol. 32. 



The most important species is V. planifolia, the 

 vanilla of commerce. It is a native of Mexico, but is now 

 widely cultivated in the West Indies, Java, Bourbon, 

 Mauritius, and other islands of the tropics, its chief 

 requirement being a hot damp climate. The plants are 

 propagated by cuttings varying in length from 2 to 

 about 12 feet, the longer ones being the more satis- 

 factory. These are 

 either planted in the 

 ground or merely tied 

 to a tree so that 

 they are not in direct 

 connection with the 

 earth. They soon 

 send out aerial roots, 

 by which connection 

 with the soil is estab- 

 lished. They are usu- 

 ally trained on trees 

 so that the stems are 

 supported by the 

 forked branches, but 

 posts and trellises are 

 also used as supports. 

 In most places where 

 vanilla-culture is 

 practised, pollinating 

 insects are lack- 

 ing and the flowers 

 must be pollinated 

 by hand. Plants bear 

 their first fruit about 

 three years after set- 

 ting. They then con- 

 tinue to fruit for 

 thirty or forty years, 

 bearing up to fifty 

 pods annually. The 



V - a , ni ]! a , P ^ 8 are 

 picked before they are 



ripe, and dried. The 



3905. Vanilla planifolia. Cluster of 

 flowers about 4 inches across. (The 



