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Useful Tropical Plants

Vanilla phaeantha

Rchb.f.

Orchidaceae

+ Synonyms

Common Name:

Vanilla phaeantha
The flowers open up in the morning and by noontime they have started to close up.
Photograph by: NC Orchid
Creative Commons License
Vanilla phaeantha Vanilla phaeantha

General Information

Vanilla phaeantha is a succulent-stemmed, perennial climbing plant, producing a stem that can be 7 metres or more long. The plant grows into trees, supporting itself by means of aerial roots that are produced from the stem nodes. It is often epiphytic, or becomes epiphytic as the lower portion of the stem withers and dies.
The seedpods are used as a vanilla-like food flavouring. The plant is sometimes cultivated for the pleasantly aromatic seedpods and it has been grown experimentally in Puerto Rico because of its disease resistance[
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

426
Title
Flowering Plants of Jamaica
Publication
 
Author
Adams. C.D.
Publisher
University of the West Indies; Jamaica.
Year
1972
ISBN
 
Description
A terse treatment of the flowering plants of Jamaica, with a botanical description of each plant, notes on habitat etc.

Range

Central America - Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador; Caribbean - Jamaica to the Bahamas; North America - Florida, Mexico.

Habitat

Woodland on limestone at elevations around 250 metres[
426
Title
Flowering Plants of Jamaica
Publication
 
Author
Adams. C.D.
Publisher
University of the West Indies; Jamaica.
Year
1972
ISBN
 
Description
A terse treatment of the flowering plants of Jamaica, with a botanical description of each plant, notes on habitat etc.
].

Properties

Edibility Rating *  *  *
Medicinal Rating *
HabitPerennial Climber
Height0.00 m
Cultivation StatusCultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details



The flowers usually need to be hand pollinated, especially when the plant is growing outside its native range, if the fruit is to be produced[
648
Title
Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 51
Publication
 
Author
Acevedo-Rodríguez P. (Editor)
Website
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Publisher
Smithsonian Institution; Washington.
Year
2005
ISBN
 
Description
A treatment of the climbing plants of Puerto Rico. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
].

Edible Uses

The seedpods are used as a vanilla-like flavouring[
46
Title
Dictionary of Economic Plants.
Publication
 
Author
Uphof. J. C. Th.
Publisher
Weinheim
Year
1959
ISBN
-
Description
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
,
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Medicinal

The plant has medicinal uses[
317
Title
Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants
Publication
 
Author
 
Website
http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336
Publisher
 
Year
0
ISBN
 
Description
Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -
Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2024-10-12. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Vanilla+phaeantha>

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