THE ORCHID REVIEW. aaa 
Araco aromatico of Hernandez was called by the Spaniards ‘‘ Vaynilla,” 
and that it was used both as a drug and as an ingredient in the manufacture 
of chocolate. The name is the diminutive of the Spanish vaina, a pod or 
capsule. 
Dampier, towards the close of the century, gave some important informa- 
tion about the plant. Speaking of the coast of the Bay of Campeachy, S. 
Mexico, he mentions finding a small Indian village, and in it a great quantity 
of Vanilloes drying in the sun. The Vinello was a little “cod,” growing on 
a small vine, which climbed on trees, turning yellow when ripe, when the 
Indians gathered and prepared it, and sold it cheap to the Spaniards. He 
had tried to cure some, but without success, otherwise he would have gone 
yearly and freighted his vessel, and had “‘ Turtle enough for food.” 
The Vanilla was thus attracting some attention, and soon other similar 
plants were mistaken for it, for both Plukenet and Sloane confused it with 
other species of Vanilla whose fruits are not aromatic. Plumier was the 
first to describe the genus botanically, enumerating three West Indian 
species, but not even mentioning the Mexican economic plant. 
The true Mexican Vanilla was introduced to England before 1739. 
Miller, in the first edition of his Gardener’s Dictionary, states that he had 
some branches of the plant, gathered by Mr. Robert Millar at Campeachy, 
and sent between papers by way of sample, and as the stems appeared 
fresh, though gathered at least four months, he planted them in small pots 
and plunged them in a hotbed of tanner’s bark, where they soon put out 
leaves and roots. Nothing further appears to be recorded about them, 
and probably they were afterwards lost. 
Other authors continued to confuse the economic plant with worthless 
species, including Linnzus, who in 1753 called it Epidendrum Vanilla, and 
when Swartz re-established the genus Vanilla, in 1799, he described a 
species whose fruits are scentless, tinder the name of V. aromatica, evidently 
borrowing the name from the economic plant, which still remained prac- 
_ tically unknown. . 
In 1807 Salisbury figured and described a species of Vanilla which had 
flowered in the collection of the Right Hon. C. Greville, at Paddington, 
under the name of Myobroma fragrans, which he wrongly identified with one 
of Plumier’s species. A year later Andrews figured and described this very 
plant, from the same collection, under the name of Vanilla planifolia, adding 
that it had been introduced by the Marquis of Blandford. The remarkable 
fact is that although this was the real Vanilla of commerce, neither author 
was aware of the fact, and the former distinctly stated that it was different. 
Two intéresting circumstances about this plant appear not to have been 
recorded until long afterwards. The first is that in the very year in which 
Salisbury’s figure appeared Francis Bauer also prepared drawings from the 
Paddington plant, not only of the flower, but also of the fresh fruit. 
