The name "vanilla" is an alias in the works of plant classification. As far as I know, there are no fewer than 9 species of plants with different names, namely Valeriana officinalis of Rubiaceae, Rutaceae, Acorus gramineus of Araceae, Elsholtzia, Ocimum, Perilla, Labiatae, Celastrus and Leguminosae.
In this way, vanilla is a typical "foreign body with the same name", but fortunately, the official Chinese name and scientific name are stipulated in the academic exchange of plant names in China, so as to avoid confusion of plant names.
morphological character
Erect shrub, 25 ~ 60 cm tall, hairy.
The leaves are opposite, short-stalked, ovoid or ovoid, 2 ~ 5 cm long, obtuse at the top, round at the base, with coarse serrations at the edges, and densely covered with gray hairs on both sides.
Cymes are petiole bouquets with many flowers, with a length of1~1.5 cm; Calyx campanulate, ca. 2 mm, puberulent, 5-parted, lobes lanceolate; Corolla blue, tube about 4 mm long, 5-lobed, with 1 larger lobes, eyelashes at the edge, slightly hairy outside; Stamens 4, 2 long, 2 short, protruding; Style linear, bicuspid.
The capsule is spherical, covered with coarse hairs, and divided into four concave millet petals, the edges of which are curved like wings to hold the seeds.