Vanilla
a genus of epiphytal Orchideæ, natives of tropical America and Asia. They are distinguished from most other orchids by their climbing habit; they cling with their aërial roots to the stems of trees or to rocks, attain the height of 20 or 30 feet, and obtain their chief sustenance from the atmosphere. There are about 20 species comprised in the genus. The flowers are VAN RENSSELAER He Savoy, to study at Rome under Benedetto Luti. After a further residence at Turin, he proceeded in 1719 to Paris, and speedily acquired a great reputation as a portrait painter. He was made a member of the Academy in 1731, and Professor of Painting in 1735; and visited London, where he painted Colly Cibber and Sir Robert Walpole. died in Aix, Dec. 19, 1745. CHARLES ANDRÉ VANLOO, his younger brother, was born in Nice, Feb. 15, 1705. He also studied at Rome under Benedetto Luti, and then settled in Paris, but later returned to Rome. At Turin he painted for the King of Sardinia a series of subjects illustrative of Tasso, after which he returned to Paris, and was appointed in 1735 a member of the Academy, and later a knight of the order of St. Michael, and chief painter to the king. He died in Paris, July 15, 1765.
VANNES (vän), a seaport town of thick, fleshy, and fragrant, but dull in France; capital of the department of color. Vanilla is remarkable among orchids as possessing the only species of the order that has any economical value.
From the fruit of several species the vanilla of commerce is obtained, the best being produced by the West Indian species. V. planifolia, which is now cultivated in many tropical countries. The fruit is cylindrical, about a span long, gathered before it is fully ripe, dried in the shade, and steeped in a fixed oil, generally that of the cashew nut. It contains within its tough pericarp a soft black pulp, in which many minute black seeds are imbedded. It has a strong, peculiar, agreeable odor, and a warm, sweetish taste. Benzoic acid is sometimes so abundant in it as to effloresce in fine needles. Vanilla is much used by perfumers, and also for flavoring chocolate, pastry, sweetmeats, ices, and liquors. Balsam of Peru is sometimes used as a substitute for it. When the and less than half an inch thick. It is fruit of vanilla is fully ripe a liquid exudes from it. Vanilla has ripened its fruit in British hothouses, but the flowers are apt to fall off without fruit being produced, unless care is taken to secure it by artificial impregnation. This is, in some measure, the case even in India and in some parts of America itself.