MID

Common Name The Costa Rican Vanilla

Flower Size 1.2 to 1.6" [3 to 4 cm]

Found in Costa Rica in lowland rainforests at elevations around 200 meters as a hot growing climbing terrestrial vine with a keeled stem carrying elliptic, abruptly mucronate, green, membraneous, attenuate below into the petiolate base leaves that blooms in the mid winter on a 11.2 to 12.8" [28-32 cm] long, 3 to 4 flowered inflorescence with foliaceous, elliptic, acute acuminate, obtuse rounded below into the subpetiolate base bracts.

"This new species of Vanilla is closely related to V. mexicana, from the West Indies and NE South America. However, V. costaricensis has a very short midlobe to the lip and large bracts similar to those of V. inodora Schiede. The species was illustrated by Rafael Lucas Rodríguez (1986), but apart from this record, it is known only from the type and another collection from the same locality. As far as is known, V. mexicana is not found in Central America

Synonyms

References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; *Lankesteriana 9(3): 297-300, f. 3. Soto Arenas 2010 Drawing fide; Lankesteriana 9(3): 355-398 Soto Arenas & Cribb 2010

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