79 photographs › At a glance
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May, shaded
- Jun, shaded
- Jul, shaded
- Aug, shaded
- Sep, shaded
- Oct, shaded
- Nov
- Dec
Summary
Vanilla phaeantha, common name leafy vanilla or oblong-leaved vanilla, is a plant species known to occur in many areas of the
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Vanilla phaeantha", 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 summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,070 mm of 1,436 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.3 °C against a yearly mean of 25.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.
Rain
1,436 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,070 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 204 mm, driest month January at 47 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,182 mm to 1,872 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,421 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,436 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: 26 to 40 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 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 13.5 °C, the absolute minimum 10.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 18.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 17.5 °C to 22.8 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.2 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% 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 -2 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
Mean daily high from 27 °C in Jan and Dec to 31 °C in Jul, Aug and Sep; mean nightly low from 19 °C in Jan, Feb and Dec to 23 °C in May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low, centred on the 3 months in a row that tie for it. 1,436 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 13 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was 10.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 27 / 26–30 | 29 / 26–32 | 29 / 27–33 | 29 / 28–34 | 30 / 28–35 | 30 / 27–34 | 31 / 27–34 | 31 / 27–34 | 31 / 28–33 | 29 / 28–31 | 28 / 27–30 | 27 / 26–30 |
| Night °C | 19 / 18–23 | 19 / 18–23 | 20 / 18–23 | 22 / 19–23 | 23 / 20–24 | 23 / 21–25 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 21–24 | 23 / 21–24 | 22 / 21–23 | 21 / 20–23 | 19 / 18–23 |
| Rain mm | 47 / 33–82 | 51 / 32–104 | 67 / 35–161 | 86 / 43–204 | 185 / 90–242 | 166 / 116–247 | 160 / 105–205 | 171 / 115–272 | 204 / 181–277 | 184 / 127–246 | 64 / 49–167 | 51 / 40–104 |
| DLI | 27 / 25–32 | 32 / 30–35 | 36 / 34–39 | 40 / 31–43 | 40 / 29–42 | 37 / 28–41 | 39 / 29–42 | 38 / 33–41 | 34 / 32–37 | 31 / 28–34 | 28 / 26–30 | 26 / 23–30 |
| RH % | 63 / 56–65 | 62 / 55–64 | 61 / 53–65 | 61 / 55–66 | 64 / 56–67 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 59–66 | 64 / 60–67 | 66 / 63–69 | 67 / 62–68 | 64 / 59–67 | 63 / 57–66 |
Records on both sides of the equator: the 7 cells at least 10° south of it have seasons six months apart and are left out, not combined into a year no place has. These figures are across the 13 cells that remain: the 10 at least 10° north and the 3 within 10° of the equator, which stay in either way.
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Mary, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Brandon Corder, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
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Brosimum alicastrum Breadnut Photo: CC BY, Alexis López HernándezOther Vanilla 17 in the reference
Vanilla aphylla Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, insect ID
Vanilla barbellata Wormvine orchid Photo: CC BY-SA, Kurt Miller Vanilla borneensis Orchidaceae 
Vanilla chamissonis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Fabrício Mil Homens Riella Vanilla decaryana Orchidaceae Vanilla dilloniana Leafless vanilla 
Vanilla imperialis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Tim Hirsch
Vanilla insignis Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Miguel Sho
Vanilla madagascariensis Madagascar Vanilla Photo: CC BY, amantedarmanin
Vanilla odorata Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, fern Wildtruth
Vanilla palmarum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY, Pedro Alvaro Neves
Vanilla planifolia Bourbon vanilla Photo: CC BY, Samuel GUIRAUDOU all 18 ›Names & registers
Also known as Notylia phaeantha; Notylia phahiana; Vanilla bahiana; Vanilla carinata; Vanilla gardneri and 3 more. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
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 answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.50_-88.125, lapse-corrected -2 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.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 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery 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 47 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.