The nut is globular when one-celled, and about two inches in diameter. The coco (_Cocos nucifera_) is too well known to need description, though we shall consider the commercial importance of the nuts presently. Of the other fifty or more species of palms few have been identified, and their local names have no meaning for us. [Illustration: Leaf-tip of Climbing Palm.] To the family of orchids the collector is sure to turn with eagerness; but I must confess that the brilliant colors and bizarre forms of these flowers are not attractive to me. They are parasites; and although possessing a commercial value far above many more beautiful and honest flowers, only the vanilla has any useful qualities, so far as known. The vanilla moreover is an article of luxury, not necessity; for doubtless the chemist will discover, if he has not already done so, a substitute in some of the thousand and one products of the decomposition of coal-tar. All along the coast the _Epidendrum bicornutum_ and the _Schomburgkia tibicina_ are very common, affecting mangroves especially. On orange-trees in the Motagua valley grows a bright little yellow _Oncidium_, the flower being the largest part of the plant. In the mountains is an orchid which bears several long spikes of rich purple flowers, which with the pure white clusters of a ground orchid care much used in church decoration. So little is popularly known of the vanilla (_V. planifolia_) that I may be pardoned for quoting from Mr. Morris the directions lately issued from his Botanical Department of Jamaica, which are entirely applicable to the plant in Guatemala. In the Chocon forests it grows abundantly and fruits naturally, the insect needed to fertilize the flowers being present; and the pods are of excellent quality. _Vanilla._—“This is a vigorous, soft-stemmed vine, the cured fruits of which are the valuable vanilla-beans of commerce. If cuttings are taken, their upper ends, or portion to appear above ground, may readily be determined by examination of the base of the attached leaf, in the axil or upper face of which is a small growth-bud. Cut the stem with say three or four joints at one fourth of an inch below the basal node or joint, then place the base of each cutting shallowly in prepared soil against the bole or trunk of a rough-barked, low-branching tree, as, for instance, calabash, or on a low-trellised frame three or four feet high, the supports of which should be unbarked logwood, yoke, or calabash.