COROLLA pentapetala. Labellum basi sub-cucullatum, ecalcaratum.
Anthera opercularis, decidua. Capsula siliquæformis, carnosa.
BLOSSOM of five petals. Lip of the nectary nearly cowl-shaped, and
without any spur. Anthers covered, at last falling off. Fruit a
long fleshy pod.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
VANILLA foliis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis obliquis, obsolete
striatis, nitidis: petalis sublanceolatis, incurvis, obtusis.
VANILLA with oval-lanced, oblique pointed leaves, which are faintly
streaked, and shining; and the petals of the blossom somewhat
lance-shaped, blunt, and curved inwards.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The nectarium spread open.
2. The chives and pointal.
Vanilla flore albo, fructu breviori corallino, of Plumier’s unpublished
drawings. The botanical history of this plant is curious. It was
published by Plumier in the year 1703, as a third species of Vanilla, as
we have ascertained by a copy of his original drawing in the collection
of A. B. Lambert, esq. but unnoticed by Linnæus or any of his editors.
In the Paradisus Londinensis it has been mistaken for Plumier’s first
species, the Epidendrum Vanilla of Linnæus, (Vanilla aromatica of Swartz
and Willdenow,) of which we have three original figures: Catesby’s, in
his History of Carolina, vol. iii. tab. 7.; Madam Merian’s, and
Plumier’s own drawing published by Burman; all of them totally unlike
it. No two plants can be more specifically distinct, and we have seldom
seen two species of one genus so different in the blossoms.
Vanilla planifolia is an exceedingly ornamental and as yet a scarce
species, and runs to many feet in length, throwing out simple tendrils
from the axils of the leaves. The finest specimen in England, and the
only one that has blossomed, is in the choice collection of the Right
Hon. Charles Greville, at Paddington, from which our drawing was taken.
We are informed that it is a native of the West Indies, and was
introduced to this country by the Marquis of Blandford.
[Illustration]
PLATE DXXXIX.
CALYCANTHUS FERTILIS.
_Fruitful Allspice._
CLASS XII. ORDER VIII.
_ICOSANDRIA POLYGYNIA._ Twenty Chives. Many Pointals.
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
CALYX imbricatus: foliolis coloratis. Corolla nulla. Styli plurimi.
Stigmata glandulosa. Semina plurima, intra calycis partem
succulentam.
EMPALEMENT tiled: leaflets coloured. Blossom none. Shafts many.
Summits glandular. Seeds many, within the fleshy part of the cup.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
CALYCANTHUS ramis virgatis, sub-erectis: foliis ovato-lanceolatis,
acuminatis: floribus fertilibus.
Habitat in Americâ Boreali.
CALYCANTHUS with twiggy branches nearly upright. Leaves ovately
lance-shaped, and pointed. Flowers fertile.
Native of North America.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower divested of the leaflets of the cup.
2. The same cut open, to show the seeds.
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