Vanilloideae (Lindley) Szlachetko, is one of the subfamilies of orchids belonging to the large family Orchidaceae. Lindley used to treat it as a separate family Vanillaceae, but it is now recognized as a distinct subfamily. But, from a molecular point of view, it is rather a sister to subfamily Epidendroideae + subfamily Orchidoideae.

The subfamily Vanilloideae consists of 15 genera and about 180 species, belonging to the tribes Pogonieae and Vanilleae,

Their distribution is pantropical, throughout Asia, Australia and the Americas.

The species in the tribe Pogonieae have a characteristic laciniate lip margin. The color of their petals and sepals is pink or rarely white or bluish. Their sepals have an oblong, elliptic, or narrowly lanceolate form.

The species in the tribe Vanilleae are long plants characterized by long, thick, succulent vines and a lip without spur.

Classification

Tribe Pogonieae

• Genera : Cleistes, Duckeella, Isotria, Pogonia and Pogoniopsis

Tribe Vanilleae

• Genera : Clematepistephium, Cyrtosia, Dictyophyllaria, Epistephium, Eriaxis, Erythrorchis, Galeola, Lecanorchis, Pseudovanilla and Vanilla.

References

• Pridgeon, Alec M.; Cribb, Phillip J.; Chase, Mark.W; Rasmussen, Finn.N - Genera Orchidacearum: Orchidoideae Vanilloideae - Oxford University Press 2003 - ISBN 0-19-850711-9