Vanilla pompona
Vanilla pompona
Safety & Hazards
The stems produce a watery and caustic latex when wounded[1].
Cultivation Details
Although the pods are of inferior quality to the true vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), the plant does also have some advantages inasmuch as its pods do not have a tendency to wilt; it is easily cured; and the vines are said to flower and fruit three or four times during the year[2]. The flowers, which individually only live for a day, usually need to be hand pollinated, especially when the plant is growing outside its native range, if the fruit is to be produced[1, 3]. It takes 6 months from flowering until the seedpods are ready to harvest[3].
Propagation
Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Vanilla+pompona>
Pollinators
Data unavailable
References
- [1]Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 51 — Acevedo-Rodríguez P. (Editor) · Smithsonian Institution; Washington. · 2005 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎A treatment of the climbing plants of Puerto Rico. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [2]Inventory of Seeds and Plants Imported Vol. 53 — Government Printing Office; Washington DC. · 1922 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Details of seeds and plants imported for trials by the United States Department of Agriculture in the last quarter of 1917, often detailing the uses of the plant and various other miscellaneous information. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [3]Orchids of Guatemala — Ames O. & Correll D.S. · Chicago Natural History Museum; Chicago. · 1952 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org ↩︎Although dated, still an excellent treatment of the Orchids of Guatemala. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
- [4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎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.
- [5]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
- [6]Medicinal Plants of the Guianas — DeFilipps, R. A.; Maina, S. L.; & Crepin, J. · Smithsonian Museum · http://botany.si.edu/bdg/medicinal/index.html ↩︎A down-loadable PDF document of a book in pre-publication awaiting illustration. An excellent, if rather terse, guide to the traditional medicinal uses of the plants of the region