File:Vanilla culture in Puerto Rico (1948) (20381764800).jpg

Title: Vanilla culture in Puerto Rico
Identifier: CAT31289489 (find matches)
Year: 1948 (1940s)
Authors: Childers, Norman Franklin, 1910-
Subjects: Vanilla; Orchids
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : U. S. Dept. of Agriculture
Contributing Library: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library
Digitizing Sponsor: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library

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14 CIRCULAR NO. 2 8, FEDERAL EXPERIMENT STATION indigenous to Central America, Trinidad, southeastern Mexico, and northern South America. Cultivation is chiefly in Guadeloupe, and to some extent in Dominica and Martinique. V. pompona will grow under somewhat more adverse moisture and soil conditions than V. fragrans and seems to be more resistant to the root rot disease (Fu- sarium batatatis var. vanillae Tucker). Pompona vanilla forms flowers 1 or 2 years after planting whereas V. fragrans usually flowers the third year. V. pompona resembles V. fragrans except that the leaves are larger, being 15 to 28 cm. long and 4 to 11.5 cm. wide. The flowers are greenish yellow and larger as well as more fleshy, and the lip has a tuft of imbricating scales instead of hairs in the center of the disk. The beans are triangular and more fleshy thickened, being 15 to 17.8 cm. long, and 2.5 to 3.3 cm. in diameter. They show little or no tend- ency to split at maturity. Quality of the pompona beans is inferior
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Figuke 7.—Vanilla pompona Schiede, sometimes called "vanillon" or "pompona," is relatively resistant to the root rot disease and does not split when mature; it is being used as a parent with V. fragr^ans for developing improved varieties. Chief disadvantages of the beans are inferior quality and low market price. to V. fragrans and consequently they bring a lower price on the mar- ket. The flavoring is commonly used in smoking tobacco, soaps, per- fumes, medicines, liquors, cordials, and for blending with extract made from V. fragrans. Vanilla tahitensis is indigenous to Tahiti and is the source of Tahi- tian vanilla coming from the French Oceania group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is also cultivated in Hawaii. Tahitian vanilla brings a lower price on the market than V. fragrans. It differs from V. fra- grans by having more slender stems, narrower leaves, longer perianth segments, and a lip that is shorter than the stipule sepals. The pods are shorter than those of V. fragrans, reddish brown and 12 to 14 cm. long, 9 mm. in width, broad in the middle and tapering toward the ends (4). At the Federal Experiment Station in Puerto Rico several other species of vanilla are maintained for the purpose of cross-breeding

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