Vanilla claviculata Sw.

• Authority

  Ackerman, James D. 1995. An orchid flora of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 73: 1-203.

• Family

  Orchidaceae

• Scientific Name

  Vanilla claviculata Sw.

• Description

  Species Description - Plants terrestrial or hemiepiphytic vines many meters long. Roots 1-2 at each node, gray, glabrous and 2-3 mm diam. when aerial, thicker and villous when in contact with a substrate. Stems scandent, smooth, internodes to 13 cm long, 3-8 mm diam. Leaves fleshy, triangular to lanceolate with curled margins and reflexed apices, to 3.5 cm long, early deciduous. Inflorescences axillary racemes on short branches, several- to many-flowered; floral bracts fleshy, 5-11 mm long. Flowers large, showy, ephemeral, resupinate, produced sequentially. Pedicellate ovary 3-4 cm long. Sepals and petals olive-green, free, more or less spreading. Dorsal sepal concave, oblong-oblanceolate, acute to obtuse, 3.5-4.5 cm long, 1-1.3 cm wide; lateral sepals similar to the dorsal sepal, slightly falcate. Petals elliptic-spatulate, keeled, broader and shorter than the sepals. Lip white or white with 2 lateral basal red blotches; claw and basal margins attached to the column for about 1/3 of its length; free portion simple, obovate, basally involute and arching over the column, ca. 43 mm long, 46 mm wide when spread; disc with a broad thickened midrib extending for the length of the lip and with erect, fleshy, often forked hairs, ca. 2 mm long, and a hinged beard nearly 1 cm long, basal half of the lip with numerous short, fleshy hairs. Column slender, semiterete, abaxially pubescent below the stigma to ca. 1 cm from base, 2.5-3 cm long. Fruits black when ripe, pendent, stout, fusiformcylindrical, straight to curved, 7-11 cm long, 9-12 mm diam.

• Discussion

  4. Vanilla claviculata (W. Wright) Swartz, Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 6: 66. 1799. Epidendrum claviculatum W . Wright, London Med. J. 7: 254. 1787. Type. Swartz s.n., from Jamaica (BM). Phenology & Pollination. During the spring, short erect inflorescences are produced from hanging vines. From April to June, the flowers are produced sequentially. Flowers last 1 day, are rarely visited, at least effectively, and pollinators are unknown. Frequently, one may find fruits in various stages of maturation on the same plant. When ripe, the fruits shrivel, turn black and begin to disintegrate. Unlike seeds of most other orchids, those of Vanilla are not wind-dispersed. Birds probably peck at the fleshy fruits, pick up the sticky seeds, and disperse them in the process. Plants sometimes occur with V. barbellata, V. dilloniana, and V. poitaei. Taxonomic Notes. Vanilla claviculata has two color morphs in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. One has a white lip, and the other has large, red-purple blotches near the lip margin. There are no morphologic floral differences between the two color forms, and they may grow side by side.

• Distribution

  General Distribution. Greater Antilles.