Scientists from the HCM City Agriculture-Forestry University have discovered vanilla orchids in Khanh Hoa province, central Vietnam. This is the first time this species is found in Vietnam.
The orchid was discovered on the height of 200m, during a survey at the Hon Ba Nature Reserve.
At first, researchers could not identify this species of orchid because it did not bloom yet. Recently, Mr. Ho Ngoc Quynh, an employee of the Hon Ba Nature Reserve, found the first flowers.
Vietnamese researchers referred to documents on orchids and leading experts of orchids of the Russian Academy of Sciences have come to a conclusion that this is the Vanilla shenzhenica orchid, which was discovered and described for the first time in Shenzhen, China in 2007.
This orchid grows in forests or along cliffs in valleys or near waterfalls at elevations of 200 to 400 meters. Vanilla shenzhenica orchids are as a large to giant sized, hot growing, climbing vine, with a fleshy, branching, internoded stem carrying many, fleshy-coriaceous, elliptic, acute leaves that blooms in the winter and early fall on an axillary, 3 to 5 cm long, to 4 flowered inflorescence with cucllate, oblong, acute floral bracts.
This species has not been mentioned in any document about orchid in Vietnam. Experts are making the final test on it.