Plant of the Day: Vanilla planifola

The conservatory was quite crowded today!  I started talking to visitors almost immediately after I entered the Palm Dome which is on the way to the North Garden.  I talked with one nice gentlemen for about 20 minutes.  He mentioned that he had some familiarity with the plants in the North Garden, then proceeded to share some of his experiences in Belize, Central America and southern Louisiana.  He had some very interesting tales to tell.  These stories were nice to hear about as I enjoy hearing about visitors' experiences with plants, ecology and wildlife in various parts of the world.  I learn quite a bit from the visitors to the Conservatory.

At the entrance of the North Garden, the Ethiopian Banana plant continues to show its long inflorescence and bunch of bananas.

A vanilla orchid grows around the inside entrance to the North Garden.  Today, I saw what looks like the initiation of vanilla pods or perhaps initial growth of flowers.

Vanilla flavors are found in the fruit which results from pollination of vanilla flowers, one flower producing one fruit.  These flowers are hermaphroditic - they carry both the male (called anther) and female (called stigma) organs.  A membrane separates the two to keep the plant from self-pollinating.



Walking around the North Garden, I noticed the bright red inflorescence of the Red Ginger plant.  This inflorescence was leaning against the tall fig tree in the north part of the North Garden.  Several visitors mistook this to be a part of the fig tree but I pointed out the connection to the nearby Red Ginger stalks.

The chocolate tree is still growing the beautiful cacao pods.  I conversed for a while with several young women gathered around this tree.  They told me that they were planning to create a greenhouse with only "dessert" plants - the chocolate tree, the vanilla orchid and various other fruit and nut plants.  I thought they had interesting ideas, but thought to myself that they need to add the coffee plant!   I personally need a few cups to get me going in the morning.  In social situations, I might have a cup in the evening.  Blog readers - what do you think should be grown in a greenhouse dedicated to "dessert" plants?

The plant for the day is the Vanilla Orchid Vanilla planifolia - the second most expensive spice after saffron.  This spice is expensive because the plants have to be pollinated by hand, thus is labor intensive.  Natural pollination is rare, occurring in less than 1% of the flowers.  A pollinated flower can take up to nine months to produce a fully ripe pod.  To get vanilla extract, after pods are fermented, the pods are finely chopped and distilled in alchohol and water.  True vanilla extract is usually expensive, but imitation vanilla extract can be a less expensive alternative.

Additional information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla
http://www.kew.org/plants/orchids/vanilla.html
http://www.organic-vanilla.com/servlet/Page?template=a-farm
http://www.spicesherpa.com/spices/vanilla/
http://www.vanillapodsuk.com/all-about-vanilla-2-w.asp
http://vanilla.servolux.nl/vanilla_history.html