VANILLA. 



( Frt n ilia pi a n ifolia, Andrews.) 



You flavor everything-; you are the vanille of society. — Sydney Smith: Works, p. 329. 



Vanilla planifolia belongs to the Or- 

 chid family (Orchidaceae), though it has 

 many characteristics not common to most 

 members of the family. It is a fleshy, 

 dark-green perennial climber, adhering 

 to trees by its aerial roots, which are pro- 

 duced at the nodes. The stem attains a 

 length of many feet, reaching to the very 

 tops of the supporting trees. The young 

 plant roots in the ground, but as the stem 

 grows in length, winding about its sup- 

 port and clinging to it by the aerial roots, 

 it loses the subterranean roots and the 

 plant establishes itself as a saprophyte o; 

 partial parasite, life habits common to 

 orchids. The leaves are entire, dark- 

 green, and sessile. Inflorescence consists 

 of eight to ten flowers sessile upon axil- 

 lary spikes. The flowers are a pale green- 

 ish yellow, perianth rather fleshy and 

 soon falls away from the ovary or young 

 fruit, which is a pod, and by the casual 

 observer would be taken for the flower 

 stalk. The mature fruit is a brow^n curved 

 pod six to eight inches long, smooth, 

 splitting lengthwise in two unequal parts, 

 thus liberating the numerous, very small, 

 oval or lenticular seeds. 



There are several species of vanilla in- 

 digenous to Eastern Mexico, growing in 

 warm, moist, shaded forests. It is now 

 extensively cultivated in Mexico ; also in 

 Mauritius, Bourbon, Madagascar and 

 Java. It is extensively grown in hot- 

 houses of England and other temperate 

 countries. The wild growing plants no 

 doubt depended upon certain insects for 

 pollination, but with the cultivated plants 

 this is effected artificially by means of a 

 small brush. 



The word vanilla is derived from the 

 Spanish vainilla, the diminutive of vaina, 

 meaning a sheath or pod, in reference to 

 the fruit. There is little doubt that the 

 natives of Mexico employed vanilla as a 

 flavor for cocoa long before the discov- 

 ery of America. We received our first 

 description of the plant from the Span- 



ish physician Hernandez, who, during 

 I57i"i577 explored New Spain or Mex- 

 ico. In 1602, Morgan, apothecary to 

 Queen Elizabeth, sent specimens of the 

 fruit to Clusius, who described it inde- 

 pendently of Hernandez. In 1694 vanilla 

 was imported to Europe by way of Spain. 

 In France it was much used for flavoring 

 chocolate and tobacco. During the first 

 half of the eighteenth century it was ex- 

 tensively used in Europe, particularly in 

 England, after which it seems to have 

 gradually disappeared. Now it is, how- 

 ever, again very abundantly employed in 

 nearly all countries. 



Vanilla must be cultivated with great 

 care. In Mexico a clearing is made in 

 the forest, leaving a few trees twelve to 

 fifteen feet apart to serve as a support for 

 the vanilla plants. Cuttings of the va- 

 nilla stems are made three to five feet in 

 length, one cuttingbeing inserted into the 

 soil to a depth of about ten inches near 

 each tree. The cuttings become rooted 

 in about one month and grow quite rap- 

 idly, but do not begin to bear fruit until 

 the third year and continue to bear for 

 about thirty years. In Reunion, Mau- 

 ritius and the Seychelles the young plants 

 are supported by a rude trellis fastened 

 between the trunks of trees. In cultiva- 

 tion pollination is universally effected ar- 

 tificially ; the pollen being transplanted 

 from one flower to another by means of 

 a small brush or pencil. Only the finest 

 flowers are thus fertilized so as to pre- 

 vent exhaustion and to insure a good 

 commercial article. Among wild grow- 

 ing plants pollination is effected through 

 the agency of insects, which evidently do 

 not occur in the vicinity of the planta- 

 tions ; thus man is called upon to assist 

 nature. The pods are cut off separately 

 as they ripen ; if over-ripe they are apt 

 to split in drying; if collected green the 

 product will be of an inferior quality. 



The peculiar fragrance of the vanilla 

 pods is due to vanillin, which occurs upon 



47 



