{{Short description|Species of plant in the orchid family}} {{Speciesbox |image = Vanilla odorata - Blanche Ames.png |image_caption = ''Vanilla odorata'' illustrated by Blanche Ames |status = EN |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref name="IUCN" /> |genus = Vanilla |species = odorata |authority = C.Presl |synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO_661231-1" /> |synonyms = *''Epidendrum vermifugum'' {{small|Sessé & Moc.}} *''Vanilla denticulata'' {{small|Pabst}} *''Vanilla ensifolia'' {{small|Rolfe}} }}
'''''Vanilla odorata''''', also known as '''vanilla tlatepusco''', is a species of flowering plant in the family Orchidaceae, native to southern Mexico, Central America, and tropical South America. With ''Vanilla planifolia'' it is a parent of the ''vanilla'' crop species ''Vanilla × tahitensis''.
==Description== [[File:Vanilla odorata 321247406.jpg|left|thumb|''Vanilla odorata'' in the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, Peru]] ''Vanilla odorata'' is an evergreen climbing vine. The leaves are spaced at {{Convert|10-12|cm|sp=us|adj=on}} intervals on the vines. The petiole is comparatively long at 1.5 centimeters. The leaf length is {{Convert abbreviated|12.5 to 20|cm}} with a width of 1 to 2.5 centimeters. The leaf shape is narrowly lanceolate, elongated at the front, rounded at the base.<ref name="Vanillas of the World">{{cite book |last1=Portères |first1=Roland |editor1-last=Bouriquet |editor1-first=Gilbert |title=Encyclopédie Biologique |date=1954 |publisher=Paul Lechevalier |location=Paris |pages=243–245 |language=fr |chapter=Le Vanillier et la Vanille dans le Monde}}</ref> The leaf tip is curved. The texture of the leaves is leathery to fleshy.<ref name="Orchids of Peru">{{cite journal |last1=Schweinfurth |first1=Charles |title=Orchids of Peru |journal=Fieldiana: Botany |date=1958 |volume=30 |issue=1 |page=43 |url=https://archive.org/details/orchidsofperu301schw/page/42 |access-date=23 June 2023 |publisher=Chicago Natural History Museum |location=Chicago, Ill.}}</ref> The narrow, long leaves are a characteristic identifying feature of ''Vanilla odorata'', though with plants growing in shade produce somewhat broader leaves.<ref name="Soto Arenas">{{cite journal |last1=Soto Arenas |first1=Miguel A. |last2=Cribb |first2=Phillip |title=A new infrageneric classification and synopsis of the genus ''Vanilla'' Plum. ex mill. (Orchidaceae: Vanillinae) |journal=Lankesteriana |date=11 October 2013 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=384–385 |doi=10.15517/lank.v0i0.12071 |s2cid=85335896 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
The short racemose inflorescence (flowering stem), measures {{Convert abbreviated|3-4|cm}} in length, and bears up to twelve yellowish-green flowers. The elongated bracts with pointed ends reach 1 centimeter in length. The sepals are linear to lanceolate, 4.5 to 5 centimeters long and 0.2 to 0.6 centimeters wide,<ref name="Vanillas of the World" /> though they will sometimes reach 1.1 centimeters in width.<ref name="Orchids of Peru" />
The petals are similarly shaped, with a slightly prominent midrib. The lip grows 3.5<ref name="Vanillas of the World" /> to 4.5<ref name="Orchids of Peru" /> centimeters long. It is three-lobed, with the lateral lobes turned up tubularly and fused to the column up to half of the lip length.<ref name="Orchids of Peru" /> The anterior free part of the lip is spread, wavy and fringed at the edge. There is a scaled area in the middle of the lip. The column is club-shaped and not curved. The curved fruit grows 15 to 20 centimeters long and about 0.5 centimeters thick; and is very fragrant.<ref name="Vanillas of the World" />
==Distribution== ''Vanilla odorata'' is distributed from Mexico south throughout Central America and the northern half of South America.<ref name="POWO_661231-1" >{{cite POWO |id=661231-1 |title=''Vanilla odorata'' C.Presl |access-date=24 June 2023 |quote=Common Name: Vainilla Tlatepusco }}</ref> Some collections may be escaped cultivated specimens, as the fruits have been used for culinary use similarly to ''Vanilla planifolia'', the most widely cultivated vanilla.<ref name="Vanillas of the World" />
==Taxonomy and history== This orchid was first described by Carl Borivoj Presl in 1826.<ref name="POWO_661231-1" /> Presl mentions that the fruits collected 36 years earlier were still fragrant when he examined them.<ref name="Vanillas of the World" /><ref name="Ames" /> The original scientific description was only from the fruits, according to Oakes Ames, and that a more detailed description of the plant and leaves was only written in 1895 by R. Allen Rolfe in his monograph on the genus ''Vanilla''. Ames also reported that his publication was the first scientific description of the flower of ''Vanilla odorata''.<ref name="Ames">{{cite journal |last1=Ames |first1=Oakes |title=New or Noteworthy Orchids |journal=Schedulae Orchidianae |date=1925 |volume=9 |pages=1–7 |url=https://archive.org/details/schedulaeorchid00ames/page/n600 |access-date=24 October 2023 |publisher=Lawrence Press, Inc |location=Boston, Massachusetts |doi=10.5962/p.388185 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rolfe |first1=Robert Allen |title=A Revision of the Genus ''Vanilla'' |date=1896 |publisher=Harvard University |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=445, 448, 471 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dlQaAAAAYAAJ |access-date=24 October 2023 |language=en}}</ref>
Within the genus ''Vanilla'', ''Vanilla odorata'' is placed in the subgenus Xanata and in the section Xanata, which contains only species of the Neotropics. Synonyms of ''Vanilla odorata'' include ''Vanilla denticulata'', ''Vanilla ensifolia'', and ''Vanilla uncinata''. Soto Arenas and Cribb place it in the ''Vanilla planifolia'' group. ''Vanilla fimbriata'', which is insufficiently known, is particularly similar.<ref name="Soto Arenas" /> ''Vanilla odorata'' is considered a parent of Tahitian vanilla (''Vanilla × tahitensis''), from a study of its DNA.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lubinsky |first1=P. |last2=Cameron |first2=K. M. |last3=Molina |first3=M. C. |last4=Wong |first4=M. |last5=Lepers-Andrzejewski |first5=S. |last6=Gomez-Pompa |first6=A. |last7=Kim |first7=S.-C. |title=Neotropical roots of a Polynesian spice: the hybrid origin of Tahitian vanilla, ''Vanilla tahitensis'' (Orchidaceae) |journal=American Journal of Botany |date=1 August 2008 |volume=95 |issue=8 |pages=1040–1047 |doi=10.3732/ajb.0800067 |pmid=21632424 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=A genome-wide assessment of the genetic diversity, evolution and relationships with allied species of the clonally propagated crop ''Vanilla planifolia'' Jacks. ex Andrews |year=2022 |last1=Favre |first1=Félicien |last2=Jourda |first2=Cyril |last3=Grisoni |first3=Michel |last4=Piet |first4=Quentin |last5=Rivallan |first5=Ronan |last6=Dijoux |first6=Jean-Bernard |last7=Hascoat |first7=Jérémy |last8=Lepers-Andrzejewski |first8=Sandra |last9=Besse |first9=Pascale |last10=Charron |first10=Carine |journal=Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution |volume=69 |issue=6 |pages=2125–2139 |doi=10.1007/s10722-022-01362-1 |bibcode=2022GRCEv..69.2125F |s2cid=247930880 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
===Names=== The genus name, ''Vanilla'', derives from Spanish {{Lang|es|vainilla}} meaning little pod or capsule as a reference to the long, podlike fruits.<ref name="FNA Vanilla">{{cite web |last1=Ackerman |first1=James D. |title='' Vanilla'' - FNA |url=http://floranorthamerica.org/Vanilla |website=Flora of North America |access-date=17 October 2023 |date=}}</ref> The species name refers to the very aromatic scent of the plant's fruits. The common name is {{Lang|es|vanilla tlatepusco}}.<ref name="POWO_661231-1" />
==Ecology== Along with ''Vanilla planifolia'', ''Vanilla odorata'' is one of the few species of plant that has its seeds distributed by bees. Males bees from tribe Euglossini including ''Euglossa bursigera'', ''Euglossa ignita'', ''Euglossa tridentata'', and ''Eulaema cingulata'' exhibit scent collecting behaviors on the ripe pods and in the process will pick up some of the seeds. Similarly female sweat bees of the species ''Trigona fulviventris'' have been observed removing the sticky pulp of the pods in a behavior consistent with gathering nest building materials and taking away seeds in the process. For an orchid, ''V. odorata'' has relatively large seeds and it is likely that it is dependent on distribution by bees or other animals. Distribution of seeds by other animals is not confirmed in ''V. odorata'', but a study led by D. Adam Karremans found that ''V. planifolia'' and ''Vanilla pompona'' fruits that fall to the forest floor are consumed and viable seeds are passed by mammals including Tome's spiny rat and the common opossum.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Karremans |first1=Adam P. |last2=Bogarín |first2=Diego |last3=Fernández Otárola |first3=Mauricio |last4=Sharma |first4=Jyotsna |last5=Watteyn |first5=Charlotte |last6=Warner |first6=Jorge |last7=Rodríguez Herrera |first7=Bernal |last8=Chinchilla |first8=Isler F. |last9=Carman |first9=Ernesto |last10=Rojas Valerio |first10=Emmanuel |last11=Pillco Huarcaya |first11=Ruthmery |last12=Whitworth |first12=Andy |title=First evidence for multimodal animal seed dispersal in orchids |journal=Current Biology |date=January 2023 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=364–371.e3 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.041|pmid=36521493 |bibcode=2023CBio...33E.364K |s2cid=254705363 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
===Conservation=== The IUCN has listed ''Vanilla odorata'' as "endangered" in their 2017 Red List of Threatened Species due to restricted range and not being abundant within its habitat. "The habitat quality and quantity are being continuously reduced by land use change, especially for agriculture."<ref name="IUCN">{{cite journal |last1=Hernández |first1=M. |last2=Herrera-Cabrera |first2=B.E. |last3=Vega |first3=M. |last4=Wegier |first4=A. |last5=Azurdia |first5=C. |last6=Cerén-López |first6=J. |last7=Menjívar |first7=J. |title=''Vanilla odorata'' |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/105878864/173976492 |website=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017 |access-date=21 October 2023 |language=en |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T105878864A173976492.en |date=16 February 2017|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2510360}}
odorata Category:Flora of Southwestern Mexico Category:Flora of Southeastern Mexico Category:Flora of Veracruz Category:Flora of Central America Category:Flora of western South America Category:Flora of northern South America Category:Flora of North Brazil Category:Flora of Northeast Brazil Category:Plants described in 1827 Category:Taxa named by Carl Borivoj Presl