What are the differences in Vanilla planifolia varieties? (variegated)

[ferricyanide]

I recently got 2 different variegated vanilla plants, because I was hoping they would be good TC candidates and I thought they were more attractive than the flat-leafed variety.

Digging through research papers, they seem to all use the flat leafed variety. I still figure they are closely related enough that trying the same methods shouldn't be an issue.

But all this led me to question what the difference in the variegated and flat-leaf are. Are they some sort of strain that looked a little different and someone just cloned that or are they some sort of hybrid?

Just the leaf shape is completely different and there are some other differences.

Also do these actually produce flowers and vanilla beans? The place I bought them from says they do on the description, but is that accurate? (not really important but just curious).

I tried googling this information, but I couldn't really find a good explanation for it.

Curiosity killed the cat I guess.

[Roberta]

They may produce flowers - and vanilla beans - the cured pods of the plant - once it gets to somewhere around 10 ft. tall or more, and then starts to head down. In short - you need a tropical environment or a BIG greenhouse. Then, the flowers last less than a day, need to be pollinated in the early morning. So, they're attractive plants but if you want vanilla in this lifetime, I suggest that you buy it.

[ferricyanide]

I'm not worried about vanilla beans, that was just a curious question depending on what these plants more specifically were. Like I wasn't sure if what they were was sterile or not.

More of just looking to find out if they are a variety that came from the flat leaf variety or are they some sort of hybrid?

The way they were named I would think that they were a variety but they dont look remotely like flat leafed vanilla.