Abstract: Natural vanillin is a flavouring agent of high esteem. This is obtained from the processed beans of three species of the orchid genus Vanilla among which Vanilla planifolia Andrews is the most popular and it yields vanillin of superior quality. In spite of its overwhelming importance, studies on the diversity and improvement of the crop are very limited. Most of the agronomic characters of vanilla are polygenic in nature and they show different levels of interrelationship due to sharing of common genes. This phenomenon leads to different levels of interrelationship and association of these characters. The most important agronomic characters of this plant have been analyzed presently for their association by factor analysis so as to group them in to groups with maximum gene sharing and also to identify the lead characters. Eleven accessions/genotypes of Vanilla planifolia collected from the major vanilla growing areas of Kerala State and adjacent states of India were utilized for the present study. The plants were grown in randomized block design with three replications and 12 plants per plot and maintained as per the recommendations of Spices Board, India. Vanilla vine cuttings of 33 cm length were used for planting and live Gliricidia plants pruned and maintained permitting 50% light to penetrate were used as standards to train the vanilla vines. The plants started to flower in the third year. Artificial hand pollination was carried out to ensure pod setting. Yield got stabilized by the fifth year after planting and the data collected during the fifth year have been used for the present analysis. Internodal length, vine length, number of inflorescences per plant and leaf area have been identified as lead characters in the present study. Due weightage can be given to these characters in further studies on the diversity and improvement of this species.