Pods of the vanilla orchid (Vanilla planifolia) are used to make vanilla flavoring. Pictured here are vanilla orchid plants trained onto living posts (Gliricidia sepium). Apparently, the resulting curves in the vanilla orchid vines stimulates flowering to occur. We have observed that when allowed to grow vertically, up into an oak tree for example, the vines rarely flower. This is a small observation plot in the rainforest. We're also trying it with black pepper (Piper nigrum) in the same plot.
