Vanilla planifolia Andrews
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Orchidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Terrestrial and epiphytic vine 5-7 m long; roots usually 1 per node, aerial portions 2-3 mm thick; stems scandent, smooth, glabrous, 5-10 mm thick, the internodes to 12 cm long. Leaves persistent, to 25 x 8 cm (longer than the internodes), rigid, fleshy, flat, oblong, elliptic to ovate, acute to acuminate; petioles ca. 1 cm long. Flowers in short-pedunculate, dense racemes to 5 cm long; floral bracts broadly ovate, to 10 mm long. Sepals and petals yellow-green, fleshy, free, spreading; sepals elliptic-oblanceolate, 3.5-5.5 cm x ca. 13 mm; petals slightly shorter and narrower than the sepals, dorsally keeled; lip clawed, cuneate, adnate to the column, dilated above, arched over column and reflexed at the apex, when spread, triangular in outline with an apical retuse lobule, 4-5 x ca. 3 cm, the disk with a tuft of long, stiff hairs and several lines of short, fleshy hairs extending to the apex; column arched, bearded abaxially beneath the stigma, 3-3.5 cm long; pollinia yellow; pedicellate ovary 3-5 cm long. Fruit indehiscent, black when mature, pendent, slender, cylindrical, fragrant, to 25 cm long, 8 mm thick.
Distribution and Ecology - Native to Mexico, introduced as a crop plant, persistent in moist habitats. Bordeaux (A4058). Also reported from St. Croix and St. Thomas; the West Indies and Mexico to South America.
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Discussion
Myrobromafragrans Salisb., Parad. Lond. t. 82. 1807, nom. illegit. Vanilla fragrans (Salisb.) A m e s, Sched. Orch. 7: 36. 1924
Common name: vanilla.