The sources of natural vanilla are the cured fruits of two obligatorily hand-pollinated and clonally propagated orchids: 'Bourbon/Mexican vanilla' (Vanilla planifolia G. Jackson) and 'Tahitian vanilla' (Vanilla tahitensis J.W. Moore). In this paper we describe for the first time the isolation and characterization of 14 microsatellite loci from V. planifolia. These were monomorphic within cultivated accessions, as expected from the probable single clonal origin of this crop and previous genetic studies. These markers were transferable to V. tahitensis and 11 loci were polymorphic between these two closely related species. Furthermore, some of these markers were transferable and polymorphic across 15 other wild American, African and Asian species and revealed consistent relationships between species, together with a strong pattern of Old World versus New World differentiation in the genus. These microsatellites will be very useful for diversity, hybridization and phylogeographic studies in the genus Vanilla.