VAN 



and Audi, and died at Touloufe in 1739. His other 

 works were a volume of " Opufcula," confiiling of eulogies 

 on moral topics, epiftles, odes, epigrams, &c. ; a " Dic- 

 tionary of Poetry," in Latin, quarto, a work in high efli- 

 mation, and abridged for the ufe of ftudeiits ; and a " Dic- 

 tionary, Latin and French," which he began, but did not 

 live to finifh. For his encouragement in his lludies, the 

 king allowed him a peniion. Moreri. Nouv. Didt. Hilt. 

 Gen. Biog. 



VANIERIA,in5o/an)r,received its name from Loureiro, 

 in memory of father James Vani^re, a French Jefuit, who 

 was born in 1664, and died in 1739 ; celebrated for a poem 

 on rural life, in which various plants are beautifully de- 



fcribed — Loureir. Cochinch. 564 Clafs and order, Mo- 



noecia Pentandria. Nat. Ord. Urticit, JulT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal, Perianth in four deep, ovate, flelhy, 

 ereft, converging fegments. Cor. none. Statu. Filaments 

 fcarcely any ; anthers five, inferted into the calyx below its 

 middle, of two kidney -fhaped, comprelTed, pellucid lobes. 



Female, on the fame common receptacle, Cal. as in the 

 male. Cor. none. Pifi. Germen fuperior, roundifh, com- 

 preiTed ; ftyle capillary, very ilender, the length of the 

 calyx ; lligma fimple. Peru, none, except the permanent 

 juicy calyx. fcJ folitary, lenticular, fmooth, tipped with 

 the permanent (lyle. Common Receptacle ovate, bearing from 

 ten to twenty flowers, crowding each other into an angular 

 fhape, and moilly confluent, forming a roundirti, compound, 

 flefhy berry, tubercular externally, with faiall intermediate 

 fpaces. 



Efl^. Ch. Male, Common Receptacle many-flowered. 

 Calyx flefliy, in four deep fegments. Corolla none. 



Female, on the fame receptacle. Calyx like the male. 

 Style one. Seed one, enveloped in the pulpy calyx. 



1. V. coch'inchinenfu . Cay nyang 16 of the Cochinchinefe. 



— Stem prickly. Leaves alternate Native of thickets in 



Cochinchina, in which country it ferves for the fmaller kinds 

 of fences. Stems flirubby, ereA, numerous, branched, 

 round, fmooth, three feet high, befet with many long 

 ilraight prickles. Leaves ovato-lanceolate, entire, fmooth. 

 Fru;/ round ifh, about eight lines in diameter, very red, fweet, 

 eatable, on fimple axillary twin ftalks. 



2. V. chinenfis. Hung hoang Xiong of the Chinefe. — 

 Stem without prickles. Leaves tufted. — Native of bufliy 

 places about Canton. K Jhruh fifteen inches high, ereft, 

 branched. Leaves lanceolate, entire, fmooth, coUefted into 

 tufts. Flower a round head, on a long, fimple, folitary, 

 ereft, axillary ftalk. Common Receptacle fcaly. Loureiro 

 never met with any female flowers, and therefore conceived 

 that this fpecies might be dioecious. We have no ac- 

 quaintance with any thing anfwerable to the above defcrip- 

 tions. The genus feems very near Morus. 



VANIESSA, or Devil's Key, in Geography, a fmall 

 ifland in the Spanifti Main, near the Mofquito fliore. N. 

 lat. 14° 5'. W. long. 82° 35'. 



VANILLA, in Botany, a name of Spaniih origin, or at 

 leaft very comm.on among the Spaniards in South America, 

 adopted by Plumier as generic. Though barbarous, it may 

 for its found be tolerated ; and we have little doubt that 

 writers of the Auguftan age would have adopted fuch, had 

 they, like Csfar, met with them in defcribing any new 

 country. However this may be, we merely yield unwil- 

 lingly to the example of writers of the firft botanical autho- 

 rity, who have now eftablithed this name, and we fliould 

 greatly have preferred Mr. Salifbury's appellation of Myro- 



broma Plum. Gen. 25. t. 28. Juff. 66. Swartz Ind. 



Occ. 1513. Aa. Nov. Upfal. V.6. 66. t. 5. f. i. Schrad. 

 Journ. V. 2. 208. t. I. f. I. Schrad. Neues Journ. v. 1. 82. 



VAN 



Willd. Sp. PI. V. 4. 121. Brown in Ait. Hort. Kew. 



v. 5. 219 Clafs and order, Gynandria Monandr'ta. Nat. 



Ord. Orchtdea. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth fuperior, of three nearly direft, 

 lanceolate, equal, coloured leaves, deciduous. Cor. Petals 

 two, lanceolate, of the fize and colour of the calyx. Nec- 

 tary a lip, proceeding from the lower part of the ft^yle, con- 

 voluted at the bafe, dilated at the margin, without a fpur, 

 falling off' with the petals. Stam. Anther a hemifpherical, 

 moveable, terminal, deciduous lid, of two cells, attached by 

 its pofterior edge to the top of the ftyle ; mafles of pollen 

 globular, granulated. Pijl. Germen inferior, elongated, 

 nearly cylindrical ; fl;yle ereft, femicylindiical ; fl:igma con- 

 vex, towards the top of the ftyle, in front. Perlc. Capfule 

 elongated, flightly triangular, flefiiy, of one cell. Seeds very 

 numerous, lenticular, deftitute of a tunic, imbedded in 

 pulp. 



EIT. Ch. Calyx-leaves direft, flightly fpreading. Lip 

 convoluted at the bafe, without a fpur ; fpreading at the 

 border. Antlier a terminal deciduous lid. Capfule linear- 

 oblong, flefliy. Seeds imbedded in pulp, without a tunic. 



1. V. aromatka. Aromatic Vanilla, Vainilla, or Vanelloe. 

 Willd. n. I. Ait. n. i. ( V. flore viridJ et albo, fruftu ni- 

 gricante ; Plum. Ic. 183. t. 188. V. maxima; Merian 

 Surin. t. 25. Epidendrum Vanilla ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1347.) 

 — Leaves ovate-oblong, ribbed. Calyx and petals undu- 

 lated. Lip acute. Capfule nearly cylindrical, very long 



Native of South America. Stem parafitical, climbing by 

 means of fimple, flefliy, fibrous, folitary radicles from each 

 joint. Leaves a fpan long, fucculent, as thick as thofe of 

 houfeleek. Floivers large, variegated with green and white. 

 Fruit eight or ten inches long, acquiring, after it is ga- 

 thered, a peculiar and delicious fragrance, like the flowers of 

 Orchis nigra, and fome others of that family ; on which ac- 

 count the Vanilla is ufed to perfume chocolate, and becomes 

 a valuable article of commerce. 



2. V . angujlifolia. Narrow-leaved Japan Vanilla. Willd. 

 n. 2. (Epidendrum Vanilla /3 ; Linn. Sp. PI. 1348. 

 Angurek Warna ; Ksempf. Amoen. 867. t. 869. f. 2. ) — 

 Leaves linear-lanceolate. Calyx and petals flat. Lip 

 acute. — Native of Japan. By Kasmpfer's account this is a 

 parafitical climber hke the lail, and agrees with that in the 

 colours of its Jlozuer, except being dotted with purple. 

 Nothing is faid concerning the fruit. 



3. V. claviculata. Tendril-bearing Vanilla. Swartz Ind. 

 Occ. 1515. Willd. n. 3. (Cereo affinis fcandens planta 

 aphylla, &c. ; Sloane Jam. v. 2. 160. t. 224. f. 3, 4.) — 

 Leaves lanceolate, acute, concave, rigid, recurved. Calyx 



and petals flat. Capfules fomewhat triangular Native of 



woods, on a very dry calcareous foil, in the mountainous 

 inland parts of Jamaica, Hifpaniola, &c. flowering in July. 

 It is vulgarly called Grecn-with, and the negroes ufe a de- 

 coftion of the whole plant for fyphihtic complaints. The 



Jlem chmbs to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and is 

 fwelled, as if jointed, at the infertion of each leaf, and 

 tendril-hke radicle. Leaves feiTile, an inch long. Flowers 

 large, white, in axillary clufters. Fruit long and large, 

 flefhy, with black 'Mmmg feeds. Swartz. The figure of the 

 flower in Swartz's plate belongs to this fpecies. 



4. V . planifolia. Fragrant Vanilla. Ait. n. 2. Andr. 

 Repof. t. 538. (Myrobroma fragrans ; Sahftj. Parad. 

 t. 82.) — Leaves oblong -lanceolate, flat, flightly ftriated. 

 Calyx and petals even. Lip fringed, abrupt — Native of 

 the Wefl: Indies, faid to have been introduced into our ftoves 

 by the prefent duke of Marlborough. In fize this rivals the 

 firft fpecies, but the leaves are not fo thick ; the calyx and 

 petals are not undulated, nor the /// pointed. We have no 



account 



