Leafy Vanilla

Vanilla phaeantha is known in the flora area only from Collier County, Florida (P. M. Brown 2002).

Roots usually 1 per node, aerial portions 1–2 mm diam. Stems occasionally branched, leafy, thick, 8–12 mm diam., smooth. Leaves persistent; blade oblong-elliptic, flat, equal to or shorter than internodes, to 15 × 2.5–5 cm, fleshy-leathery, tapering to acute apex. Inflorescences axillary, 12-flowered racemes, short-pedunculate, ± to 8 cm excluding peduncle; floral bracts foliaceous, ovate, cucullate, to 2.5 × 1.5 cm, fleshy. Flowers: sepals and petals spreading, green, fleshy, rigid; sepals narrowly oblanceolate, 7–9 × 1.3–2 cm, margins straight, apex obtuse to acute, spreading; petals obliquely narrowly oblanceolate, abaxially keeled, thinner than sepals, 6.5–8 ×1–1.5 cm, apex acute to subacuminate; lip adnate to column for 3 cm, white becoming yellow-cream toward apex, lamina gulletlike, cuneate, obovate, clawed, obscurely 3-lobed distally, to 7.5–9 × 3.5–4 cm when spread, lateral lobes arching over column, margins involute, apex rounded, middle lobe broadly subquadrangular, margins undulate, apex retuse; disc with multiple longitudinal ribs, central tuft of retrorse scales, thickened broad rib extending from tuft to apex; column curved distal to middle, white, slender, 6.5 cm, adaxially bearded; pollinia yellow; pedicellate ovary 4–8 cm. Berries cylindric, 8–10 × 1 cm.

Fla.; West Indies (Trinidad).

Flowering Apr--Jul.

Cypress swamps, hammocks; 0--20m.

Vanilla phaeantha, common name leafy vanilla or oblong-leaved vanilla, is a plant species known to occur in the wild only on the islands of Trinidad and Cuba, and also in Collier County, Florida. It occurs in cypress swamps and hammocks at elevations of less than 20 m (67 feet).

Vanilla phaeantha has persistent, leathery, flat leaves up to 15 cm long, hence about the same length as the internodes or slightly shorter. Flowers are borne in racemes of about 12 flowers, located in the axils of the leaves. Sepals and petals are green, leathery and rigid except for the yellow to cream-colored lip. Fruits are cylindrical, up to 10 cm (4 inches) long and 1 cm (0.4 inches) in diameter.