OCR Text |
Show The Vanilla Plant. The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant can be ripened in hothouses, but its natural home is In the thickets and jungles-'of South America or the East Indies, says the American Cultivator. It Is a parasite plant related to the orchids. The shining stems twine about trees and climb their trunks 20 to 30 feet, drawing their life through rootlets which they send through the bark to the sap layer of the trees. They have roots In the soil also, but after well grown, they can live wholly from the tree sap. The stem Is four-cornered four-cornered and Juicy, the leaves long and fleshy, the flowers are In spikes and are very large, fleshy and generally gen-erally fragrant; the fruit is podlike, resembling a bean pod. It is gathered before fully ripe, dried In the shade and steeped in a fixed oil, generally that of the cashew nut, the pod is full of pulp, containing the small black seeds embedded In the pulp. The pulp is the. most aromatic part, but the pods, pulp and seeds are used by the makers of the extract so popular for flavoring purposes. |