Vanilloideae

Vanilloideae is one of the subfamilies of orchids belonging to the large family Orchidaceae.

Lindley (1836) and Garay (1986) treated it as a separate family, Vanillaceae. But their single, incumbent anther and poorly organised pollinia led to their recognition as at best a subgroup of monandrous orchids. From a molecular point of view, this clade is rather a sister to subfamily Epidendroideae and subfamily Orchidoideae in the Orchidaceae, and thus it is today also considered a subfamily.