Orchidaceae FAMILY

Vanilla phaeantha

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

1/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

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. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

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

HabitatWoodland 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. ].