| + | Flowers are greenish-yellow, with a diameter of 5 cm (2 in). They last only a day, and must be [[pollinated]] manually, during the morning, if fruit is desired. The plants are [[self-fertilization|self-fertile]], and pollination simply requires a transfer of the pollen from the [[anther]] to the stigma. If pollination does not occur, the flower is dropped the next day. In the wild, there is less than 1% chance that the flowers will be pollinated, so in order to receive a steady flow of fruit, the flowers must be hand-pollinated when grown on farms. Hand pollinators can pollinate about 1,000 flowers per day. |
− | Vanilla planifolia, Andr. (V. aromatica, Willd., in part). Common Vanilla. Vanilla Bean (from the pods). Fig. 3905. Tall climbing herbs with stout sts.: lvs. thick, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, with short, stout petioles: fls. yellow, large, in axillary racemes of 20 or more blossoms; sepals and petals oblanceolate; labellum trumpet-shaped, with small, reflexed, crenulate lobes. Winter. A native of Mex., but widely cult. throughout the tropics and in greenhouses. B.M. 7167. L.B.C. 8:733. G.C. III. 25:213. Gn. 57, p. 35. O. 4:8.—Partially epiphytic. | + | Vanilla planifolia, Andr. (V. aromatica, Willd., in part). Common Vanilla. Vanilla Bean (from the pods). Tall climbing herbs with stout sts.: lvs. thick, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, with short, stout petioles: fls. yellow, large, in axillary racemes of 20 or more blossoms; sepals and petals oblanceolate; labellum trumpet-shaped, with small, reflexed, crenulate lobes. Winter. A native of Mex., but widely cult. throughout the tropics and in greenhouses.—Partially epiphytic. |