Photo of Heliconia latihpatha by Alejandra Gutierrez with a Sony ILCE-7RM4 camera, using a FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS lens. Settings: F13, Speed 1/1250, ISO 3200 by the Aldea Tatin Road.
Between the town of Livingston and the aldea of Plan Grande Tatin, and from there to Cueva del Tigre, we found OVER ONE MILLION heliconia plants of the species Heliconia latispatha: literally. There were areas of the roadside with SOLID heliconia plants for as far as the eye could see. And even in the milpas (maize fields) you could see baby heliconia leaves sprouting up from the ground (so by the time the maize is harvested the heliconia will take over the entire field).
I have not yet noticed any book or peer-reviewed journal article on slash-and-burn Maya agriculture that mentions Heliconia as a primary ground cover! Hopefully a colleague can remind me of a report that I have not yet read that mentions heliconia as the PRIMARY ground cover. Because we have visited other areas of Guatemala that are also literally filled with native wild Heliconia plants, usually of several species in one area.
Very simple, 80% of the reports on milpas are in ecosystems where Heliconia is not as prominent as in the humid areas between Livingston and the Q’eqchi’ Mayan settlement of Plan Grande Tatin (from here you hike by trail to Cueva del Tigre.
If you are studying milpa agriculture and would like to report on something new and different, this area is available to visit.
If you are a botanist there are at least four species of Heliconia in this one area of Izabal, Guatemala. We show three of them on this page. We would not be surprised if there were additional species to find here. So the Municipio de Livingston is a great place to visit to learn about plants and biodiverse ecosystems that you can’t always find in other areas.
Posted April 30, 2020
