Vanilla pompona

Vanilla pompona is a species of vanilla orchid. It is native to Mexico and northern South America,^[3] and is one of the sources for vanilla flavouring, due to its high vanillin content. According to research by British and Swedish scientists, the smell of vanilla is a favorite among most people in the world.^[4]

Vanilla pompona
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Orchidaceae
Subfamily:	Vanilloideae
Genus:	Vanilla
Species:	V. pompona
Binomial name
Vanilla pompona Schiede
Synonyms[2]
Notylia pompona (Schiede) Conz.

Vanilla pompona found in the Peruvian Amazon has been tested using HPLC analysis showing a concentration of vanillin content up to 9.88g/100g^[5] making it suitable for the food or cosmetic industry.

Description

Vanilla pompona flower

Vanilla pompona flower

Like all members of the genus Vanilla, V. pompona is a vine. It uses its fleshy roots to support itself as it grows. Its leaves and stems are generally thicker than in V. planifolia and V. phaeantha.^[6]

Pollination

V. pompona is one of the few Vanilla species for which there is definitive identification of the agents responsible for pollination; a study found that males of a medium-sized orchid bee, Eulaema cingulata, remove and transfer pollen of V. pompona in Peru, apparently while they are searching for nectar that the flowers do not possess.^[7] Other bee species visit the flowers, but larger species cannot fit inside to reach the floral reproductive organs, and smaller species do not make physical contact with the stigma; of several observed floral visitors, only E. cingulata was within the necessary size range to accomplish pollen transfer.^[7]