Vanilla mexicana Mill.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
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Family
Orchidaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Non-woody vine, glabrous, scarcely branched, that climbs by means of aerial roots and attains 5 m or more in length. Stems cylindrical, 2-3(5) mm in diameter, producing watery and caustic latex when wounded; internodes 7.5-20 cm long; nodes swollen, with an annular scar, producing a single adventitious root per node; the lateral branches pendulous. Leaves persistent, elliptical or broadly ovate, fleshy-coriaceous, 13-25 x 6.5-12.5 cm, the apex acuminate, the margins entire, flat; both surfaces dull, glabrous, with prominent venation; petioles thick, 0.5-1 cm long. Inflorescence an axillary raceme, few-flowered; bracts fleshy, broadly ovate, 2.5 cm long. Sepals green, thick, rigid, free, expanded, up to 6.5 x 2 cm, oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate-elliptical. Petals similar, but dorsally keeled and smaller; lip trilobate, white with a yellow crest, the basal portion adnate along 5 mm of the column; column white, slender, 2-2.5 cm long. Fruits pendulous, cylindrical, up to 27 cm long.
Phenology - Flowering from March to May, producing fruits in Puerto Rico only by artificial pollination.
Conservation Status - Exotic, cultivated and escaped, rare.