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Vanilla imperialis; photograph C T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons CC BYC T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vanilla imperialis Kraenzl.

Orchidaceae · Ghana, Ivory Coast +13 · listed by its genus as an orchid

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Vanilla imperialis, photograph (c) Tim Hirsch, some rights reserved (CC BY)Vanilla imperialis, photograph (c) Tim Hirsch, some rights reserved (CC BY)Vanilla imperialis, photograph C T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanilla imperialis, photograph Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanilla imperialis, photograph Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsVanilla imperialis, photograph Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 14 photographs ›
Habitat figuresfrom few records
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
14.7°C
Record low 11.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Feb and Mar at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,533mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, April to June and August to October (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

From few records: 4 records in 3 grid cells. The records.

Summary

Vanilla imperialis is an orchid (family Orchidaceae) found from Sierra Leone eastward to Ethiopia and southward to Tanzania and Angola. It is a root-climbing vine to about 65 feet (twenty meters) in height, with a root emerging just above each leaf. Although not as tall as the common vanilla (V. planifolia), it is up to a full inch (2.54 centimeters) in thickness; the most massive Vanilla species, and the largest of all African orchids. The inflorescence is an unbranched raceme up to six inches (15 centimeters) long. More on Wikipedia ›

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

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 sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,162 mm of 1,564 mm) falls in April to June and August to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

1,564 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,162 mm of it April to June and August to October. Wettest month October at 265 mm, driest month January at 17 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,526 mm to 1,603 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,533 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,564 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: 27 to 35 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 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 38).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 14.7 °C, the absolute minimum 11.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 19.6 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 18.2 °C to 19.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.4 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 14.7 °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: 61 to 69% 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 +47 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

From few records: this habitat climate is read from 4 records in 3 grid cells; a page says so under 12 records or 5 cells, and shows the figures as read.

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Vanilla imperialis through the yearWarmest months February and March, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 19.6 °C; 1,564 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°33.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER11.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 27–35RH 61–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 3 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 °C29 / 29–3030 / 30–3130 / 30–3028 / 28–2928 / 27–2827 / 27–2726 / 26–2727 / 26–2727 / 26–2726 / 26–2727 / 27–2728 / 28–29
Night °C20 / 19–2121 / 20–2121 / 20–2121 / 20–2121 / 19–2120 / 19–2020 / 18–2020 / 18–2020 / 19–2020 / 19–2020 / 19–2020 / 19–21
Rain mm17 / 16–2833 / 32–35114 / 109–117173 / 165–183212 / 176–223171 / 114–180103 / 98–124133 / 126–161208 / 174–220265 / 223–278109 / 104–15526 / 25–51
DLI33 / 32–3735 / 34–3835 / 33–3733 / 31–3531 / 29–3428 / 27–3227 / 25–3227 / 26–3328 / 27–3528 / 26–3329 / 27–3330 / 29–35
RH %61 / 54–6261 / 53–6163 / 58–6566 / 63–6867 / 64–6967 / 62–6967 / 62–6967 / 63–6968 / 64–6969 / 65–7068 / 63–6964 / 58–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 3 grid cells holding the 4 in-range records, 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 1721:3833 (3.925, 11.675). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 11.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 14.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.7 °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 3 distinct grid cells holding 4 of the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1721:3833 (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 4.00_11.875, lapse-corrected +47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 713 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.
NativeGhana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Zaïre, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola · 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 marker2.667, 23.183 · in the densest population, 12 records (46% 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 26 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 4 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 23 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 33 km away. Under a dozen records behind the climate. 22 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 inside the densest 4° block of the 26 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 imperialis, photograph 1did not loadVanilla imperialis, photograph 2did not loadVanilla imperialis, photograph 3did not loadVanilla imperialis, photograph 4did not loadVanilla imperialis, photograph 5did not loadVanilla imperialis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Tim Hirsch, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); C T Johansson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (3).

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

Mussaenda erythrophylla Mussaenda erythrophylla Red-leaved Mussaenda Photo: CC0, author not statedMaesopsis eminii Maesopsis eminii Umbrella-tree Photo: CC BY, Jyotsna NagAngraecum distichum Angraecum distichum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, LaBosystE ENSFicus ottoniifolia Ficus ottoniifolia Moraceae Photo: CC BY, JurgenHarungana madagascariensis Harungana madagascariensis Dragon's-blood-tree Photo: CC BY-SA, Evert MatermanEulophia euglossa Eulophia euglossa Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Sandra Keller

Other Vanilla 17 in the reference

Vanilla aphylla Vanilla aphylla Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, insect IDVanilla barbellata Vanilla barbellata Wormvine orchid Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Miller Vanilla borneensis Orchidaceae Vanilla chamissonis Vanilla chamissonis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella Vanilla decaryana Orchidaceae Vanilla dilloniana Leafless vanilla Vanilla 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 grandifolia var. lujae; Vanilla imperialis var. congolensis; Vanilla lujae. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Orchidaceae
Described by
Kraenzl.
Native to
Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia +12
Wild records
26 in range · 23 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; 7 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (7 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 4.00_11.875, lapse-corrected +47 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 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 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons 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 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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