VANILLE DE TAHITIWhen Paul Gauguin fled France in search of an earthly paradise in French Polynesia, alongside the dazzling local colours he must have come across this orchid like plant and its long seed pods. Dark, sticky, delicately perfumed [travel notes] Native to Central America, the Vanilla plant belongs to the orchid family. It was a popular aphrodisiac in Mexico. In Peru and Ecuador, women would spread it under their arms as a balm. Vanilla Tahitensis is the