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An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Vanilla barbellata; photograph (c) Turner Brockman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Turner Brockman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2025-12-31

Vanilla barbellata Rchb.f.

Wormvine orchid

Orchidaceae · Florida, Bahamas +4 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Vanilla barbellata, photograph (c) Kurt Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Vanilla barbellata, photograph (c) Kurt Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Vanilla barbellata, photograph (c) Kurt Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Vanilla barbellata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVanilla barbellata, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVanilla barbellata, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 20 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
18.7°C
Record low 14.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,163mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

About the genus · Vanilla

Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily obtained from the seed pods of the flat-leaved Mexican and Central American vanilla (V. planifolia).

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Vanilla", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as an orchid, listed under the genus Vanilla in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (870 mm of 1,144 mm) falls in May to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.5 °C against a yearly mean of 25.1 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to May.

Rain

1,144 mm in the median year at the habitat, 870 mm of it May to November. Wettest month October at 155 mm, driest month February at 48 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 969 mm to 1,745 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,163 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,144 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 18.7 °C, the absolute minimum 14.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 17.9 °C to 22.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.4 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +4 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Vanilla in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “climber”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Vanilla barbellata through the yearWarmest months June, July, August and September, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 21.3 °C; 1,144 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER14.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 24–43RH 60–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 26 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 23–2825 / 23–2825 / 23–2826 / 24–2927 / 25–3029 / 27–3129 / 28–3129 / 28–3229 / 28–3128 / 27–2926 / 25–2825 / 24–28
Night °C21 / 18–2321 / 18–2322 / 18–2323 / 19–2424 / 20–2525 / 21–2626 / 22–2726 / 22–2726 / 21–2625 / 21–2624 / 20–2522 / 19–24
Rain mm55 / 36–11348 / 37–8152 / 39–8567 / 39–130123 / 97–208141 / 80–203100 / 69–165114 / 93–177151 / 127–205155 / 110–21386 / 66–18352 / 38–129
DLI26 / 24–3131 / 29–3637 / 35–4042 / 40–4342 / 39–4342 / 41–4343 / 41–4441 / 40–4236 / 35–3931 / 30–3526 / 25–3124 / 22–30
RH %60 / 58–6460 / 59–6360 / 59–6360 / 59–6463 / 61–6564 / 62–6663 / 61–6563 / 61–6563 / 62–6662 / 62–6661 / 59–6660 / 58–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 26 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (36 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1320:2049 (23.975, -77.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 14.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 26 distinct grid cells holding 36 of the 37 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1320:2049 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +4 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 5 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFlorida, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker25.279, -80.686 · in the densest population, 70 records (48% of those in range)
Kew's description“climber” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 147 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 36 of them in the land cells it reads, of 37 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 65 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 289 km away. 3 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 110 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 147 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Vanilla barbellata, photograph 1did not loadVanilla barbellata, photograph 2did not loadVanilla barbellata, photograph 3did not loadVanilla barbellata, photograph 4did not loadVanilla barbellata, photograph 5did not loadVanilla barbellata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Kurt Miller, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (3); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Zanthoxylum spinosum Zanthoxylum spinosum Biscayne Prickly-Ash Photo: CC BY, Treeworld WholesaleErnodea littoralis Ernodea littoralis Coughbush Photo: CC BY, Tom FieldLysiloma sabicu Lysiloma sabicu Horseflesh mahogany Photo: CC BY, John William BaillyHypelate trifoliata Hypelate trifoliata Inkwood Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéePentalinon luteum Pentalinon luteum Hammock viper's-tail Photo: CC0, author not statedPithecellobium keyense Pithecellobium keyense Florida Keys blackbead Photo: CC BY, Josiah Londerée

Other Vanilla 17 in the reference

Vanilla aphylla Vanilla aphylla Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, insect ID Vanilla borneensis Orchidaceae Vanilla chamissonis Vanilla chamissonis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella Vanilla decaryana Orchidaceae Vanilla dilloniana Leafless vanilla Vanilla imperialis Vanilla imperialis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Tim HirschVanilla insignis Vanilla insignis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Miguel ShoVanilla madagascariensis Vanilla madagascariensis Madagascar Vanilla Photo: CC BY, amantedarmaninVanilla odorata Vanilla odorata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, fern WildtruthVanilla palmarum Vanilla palmarum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Pedro Alvaro NevesVanilla phaeantha Vanilla phaeantha Leafy vanilla Photo: CC BY, MaryVanilla planifolia Vanilla planifolia Bourbon vanilla Photo: CC BY, Samuel GUIRAUDOU all 18 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Vanilla articulata; Vanilla bakeri. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Rchb.f.
Native to
Florida, Bahamas, Cuba +3
Wild records
147 in range · 65 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.00_-77.500, lapse-corrected +4 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 15 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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