NEW OR NOTEWORTHY ORCHIDS 
Presl in Reliq. Haenk. p. 101. aus Guayaquil, scheint eben- 
falls der Blattform nach eine gute Species zu sein, die der 
V. Ruiziana zunachst kommend, sich durch sehr schmale, 
5-8 Linien breite und 5-7 Zoll lange Blatter von dieser wie 
von alien iibrigen Arten der Gattung unterscheidet. Es sind 
von dieser Art weder Bliithen noch Bliithenstand bekannt.” 
In July 1923, I received for study, from the Bureau of 
Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, a miscellaneous collection of Vanilla specimens sent 
from Ecuador for identification. The flowers were in a 
wretched state of preservation, but the leaves of one of the 
specimens agreed closely with Presl’s description of V. odo- 
rata. The fruits of this species were said to be a favorite with 
the Indians and to be much prized by them as a spice. As a 
result of efforts to secure flowers in good condition, addi¬ 
tional material was sent in alcohol. 
There seems to be little doubt that the narrow-leaved 
species represents the V. odorata described by Presl from 
specimens collected near Guayaquil, and I have supplied the 
description which appears above. 
The region where this species was collected has an eleva¬ 
tion of about two thousand feet, and while tropical, is not 
inordinately hot. Here the vanilla industry is unimportant, 
but the Indians collect the “beans” and sell them to some 
extent. The specimens examined came from plants culti¬ 
vated by Mr. Oscar C. Felton on the banks of the Napo 
River not far from Tena. Mr. Felton grows his vanilla 
plants in shade, either on trellises or on the trunks of bread¬ 
fruit trees. The flowers are more or less ephemeral and have 
to be artificially pollinated to ensure a crop. For the ma¬ 
turing of the “beans” about six months are required. 
To Vanilla odorata I refer two collections made in Bolivia 
by the Mulford Biological Exploration of the Amazon Basin. 
One of these consists of vegetative parts, the other is repre¬ 
sented by fruiting specimens, the capsules being about 16 
cm. long, blackish when dry, very aromatic, and slender as 
in V. fragrans (Salisb.) Ames. The leaves are variable in 
length, sometimes being 20 cm. long and 1-1.3 cm. wide. 
