In the dense rainforests of western Colombia’s Pacific coast, where the humidity is almost palpable and vines entwine tree trunks like living nets, locals have for centuries harvested strange pods resembling tiny bananas. These plants, known as "bejuquillo" to Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities in their rituals and daily lives, have finally received their scientific name: Vanilla pacifica.
The discovery was made possible by a rare alliance: in 2015, community councils in the municipality of Bahía Solano launched the "Vainilla Aroma Chocó" project with support from the Swiss organization SWISSAID to document and sustainably develop local vanilla species. Five years later, systematic botanists joined the effort. Their patience paid off in 2024 when, during field trips with representatives from the Los Delfines, El Cedro, and Río Valle councils, scientists recorded a morphotype distinct from all known vanilla species. A comparison of samples with specimens from more than fifty herbaria worldwide confirmed that this was a species new to science, genetically similar to the cultivated Vanilla planifolia and to Vanilla hartii.
The Chocó region is one of the wettest and most biologically diverse corners of the planet. It forms the core of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena biodiversity hotspot, where over 5% of the world's known plant and animal species are concentrated on less than 1% of the Earth's land surface. Vast stretches of pristine tropical forest remain here, where roads and outsiders rarely penetrate. These wild relatives of cultivated plants carry genes that could provide humanity with resilience against diseases and climate shocks. Prior to this project, eight wild vanilla species had been identified in the region through years of research; the discovery of Vanilla pacifica has expanded our understanding of local diversity, while the first confirmed finding of Vanilla hartii in Colombia marks a significant outcome of revising herbarium specimens.
Vanilla pacifica has been recorded only through specimens from three geographic locations—one in Colombia and two in northwestern Ecuador. The loss of even one of these populations would spell disaster for the species. Under IUCN criteria, the species is classified as "Critically Endangered," the highest level of threat.
Protecting this newly discovered species would be impossible without the local communities themselves. Their territories are officially recognized under the international conservation tool OECM (Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures), where deforestation rates remain significantly below average thanks to traditional knowledge, sustainable land use, and a culture of respect for the forest. Through the "Vainilla Aroma Chocó" project, Vanilla pacifica has already been integrated into management and long-term monitoring plans that combine wild harvesting with experimental cultivation in adapted agroforestry systems.
This case demonstrates the rare power of synergy: when local knowledge accumulated over generations meets modern scientific methods, they together reveal the hidden riches of nature that, without such a union, might have vanished while remaining unknown to science.
