The Vanilla Orchid

Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. . . . Originally cultivated by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican peoples, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés is credited with introducing both the spice and chocolate to Europe in the 1520s. Attempts to cultivate the vanilla plant outside Mexico and Central America proved futile because of the symbiotic relationship between the tlilxochitl vine that produced the vanilla orchid and the local species of Melipona bee; it wasn't until 1837 that Belgian botanist Charles François Antoine Morren discovered this fact and pioneered a method of artificially pollinating the plant. Unfortunately, the method proved financially unworkable and was not deployed commercially. In 1841, a 12-year-old French-owned slave by the name of Edmond Albius, who lived on Île Bourbon, discovered the plant could be hand pollinated, allowing global cultivation of the plant. --Wikipedia

Comments

[John Salmon]

As Johnny Carson used to say, I did not know that. I thought there were "vanilla plants" somewhere out there.

Lovely flower, too.

[gail]

Isn't that cool? I had no idea either until I read a novel with a reference to vanilla orchids & looked it up.