Mexican vanilla | plant | Britannica (original) (raw)

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characteristics

• 
  In vanilla
  …unripe fruit of Mexican or Bourbon vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), Tahiti vanilla (V. tahitensis), and occasionally West Indian vanilla (V. pompona); all three species are thought to be derived from a single species native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Vanilla had been used to flavour xocoatl, the chocolate…
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• 
  In orchid: Economic importance
  …is produced from one species, Vanilla planifolia, although two additional species are also cultivated commercially (V. pompona and V. tahitensis). The principal vanilla-growing areas are Madagascar, Mexico, French Polynesia, Réunion, Dominica, Indonesia, the West Indies, Seychelles, and
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