Vanilla pompona Schiede 1829 Photo courtesy of © Richard Gautier and his Guadeloupe Orchid Page
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Common Name The Striking Vanilla
Flower Size 5" [12.5 cm]
Found in Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama at elevations of 270 to 530 meters on tree trunks in tropical lowlands as a giant sized, hot to warm growing climbing epiphyte with a thick [3/4"] [2 cm], adventitious stem with roots arising at the nodal junctions and carrying broadly oblong, fleshy coriaceous, rolled margins, abruptly narrowing to a subobtuse apex and below into a shortly conduplicate, petiolate base leaves that blooms on an axillary, 2" [5 cm] long, 6 to 8 flowered, racemose inflorescence arising from the base of the leaf. This species is also used in vanilla bean pod production for the commercial use of vanilla as an extract in cooking. It has a slightly different flavor than the more commonly used Vanilla planifolia as a food flavoring source. The photo above is from a plant occuring in Guadeloupe West Indies.
Synonyms Notylia pompona (Schiede) Conz. 1947; Vanilla pittieri Schltr. 1906
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 10. Panama Schlechter 1922; Flora Brasilica Vol XII II Hoehne 1945 drawing fide; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 not = V grandiflora; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 33 No 1 1964 photo; Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids Hawkes 1965 AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing ok could this be swapped with their drawing of V phaenatha?; Flora of Ecuador No 9 225[1] Garay 1978 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 not = V grandiflora; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1195 Dodson 1984 drawing hmm; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 Orchidaceae Mc Vaugh 1985; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo fide; Orchids from The Coast Of Ecuador Arosemana, Jurado, Estrada and Konanz 1988 photo fide; Native Colombian Orchids Vol 4 COS 1992 photo fide; Phylogeny and Classification of the Orchid Family Dressler 1993 drawing fide; An Orchid Flora of Peurto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995; Venezuela; Paraiso de Orquideas Romero 1997 photo maybe; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 5 Dodson 2004 photo ok; Orchids of The Brazilian Central Plateau Menezes 2004 photo fide
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