VANILLA. 657 



VANILLA. 



Vanilla;^ F. and G. Vanille. 



Botanical Origin — VaniUa planifolia Andrews — Lidigenous to 

 the hot regions (tierra caliente) of Eastern Mexico, diffused by cultiva- 

 tion through other tropical countries. The plant, which is rather fleshy 

 and has large greenish inodorous flowers,"^ grows in moist, shady forests, 

 climbing the trees by means of its aerial roots. 



History — The Spaniards found vanilla in use in Mexico as a condi- 

 ment to chocolate, and by them it was brought to Europe ; but it must 

 have long remained very scarce, for Clusius, who received a specimen 

 in 1602 from Morgan, apothecary to Queen Elizabeth, described it as 

 Lohus obloiigus arcniiaticus, without being in the least aware of its 

 native country or uses.' In the Thesaurus of Hernandez there is a 

 figure and account of the plant under the name of Araco aromatico.^ 



In the time of Pomet (1694) vanilla was imported by way of Spain, 

 and was much used in France for flavouring chocolate and scenting 

 tobacco. It had a place in the materia medica of the London Pharma- 

 copoeia of 1721, and was well known to the druggists of the first half 

 of the 18th century, after which it seems to have gradually disappeared 

 from the shops. Of late times it has been imported in great abundance, 

 and is now plentifully used, not only by the chocolate manufacturer, 

 but also by the cook and confectioner. 



Cultivation — The culture of vanilla is very simple. Shoots about 

 three feet long having been fastened to trees, and scarcely touching the 

 ground, soon strike roots on to the bark, and form plants which com- 

 mence to produce fruit in three years, and remain productive for thirty 

 to forty. 



The fertilization of the flower is naturally brought about by insect 

 agency. This was practised as early as 1830 by Neumann in the 

 Jardin des Plantes at Paris, and in 1837 by Morren,^ the director of the 

 Botanical Garden of Liege, since which the production of the pods has 

 been successfully carried on in all tropical countries® without the aid 

 of insects. Even in European forcing houses the plant produces 

 fruits of full size, which for aroma bear comparison with those of 

 Mexico. 



In vanilla plantations the pods are not allowed to arrive at com- 

 plete maturity, but are gathered when their green colour begins to 

 change. According to the statements of De Vriese,^ they are dried by 

 a rather circuitous process, namely by exposing them to heat alternately 

 uncovered, and wrapped in woollen cloths, whereby they are artificially 



^ Diminutive of the Spanish vaina, a pod the King of Spain during the previous 



or capsule. century. 



-Beautifully figured in Berg and Schmidt's ^ Ann. of Nat. Hist. iii. (1839) 1. 



Offisinelle Gewiichse, xxxiii. tab. a and h *In Reunion it was introduced in 1839 



(1862). by Perrottet, the well-known botanist. 



^Exotica (1605) lib. iii, c. 18. 72. See Delteil, Etude sur la Vanille, Paris, 



*Rerum Medicarum Nova; Hispanice The- 1874. 54 pages, 2 plates. 



mums, Romae, 1651. p. 38. — The original ' De Vanielj^, Leyden, 1856. 22, with 



drawing was one of a series of 1200, exe- figures, 

 cuted at great cost in Mexico by order of 



2 T 



