Tahitian vanilla originated in Maya forests

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Pesach Lubinsky a postdoctoral researcher in UC Riversides department of botany and plant sciences attends to a vanilla orchid. Credit: UCR Strategic Communications.
Pesach Lubinsky, a postdoctoral researcher in UC Riverside's department of botany and plant sciences, attends to a vanilla orchid. Credit: UCR Strategic Communications.

The origin of the Tahitian vanilla orchid, whose cured fruit is the source of the rare and highly esteemed gourmet French Polynesian spice, has long eluded botanists. Known by the scientific name Vanilla tahitensis, Tahitian vanilla is found to exist only in cultivation; natural, wild populations of the orchid have never been encountered.


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