On Christmas day 2014 we were photographing the pretty lavender flowers of achiote, Bixa orellana, in a remote area of Alta Verapaz. Two days later we reached the cacao areas of the Boca Costa (piedmont and initial hills before the higher mountain ranges) and Costa Sur (flatlands).
We also continue to study plants which produce dye colorants for Maya clothing. Several scholars in Guatemala have published on dye colorants. Our contribution is to find and photograph each species in high resolution.
And we will also keep on searching for medicinal plants. We appreciate the cooperation of medical biologist Armando Caceres in this work; we want to photograph the flowers and eco-system of all medicinal plants of the Maya. The lists already exist; what is lacking is a coffee-table quality and quantity of photographs of the actual remarkable medicinal plants.
Plus we wish to encourage local people to consider a better diet of more fruits and more vegetables (in other words, to learn more about the foods of their ancestors).
Also we would like to do projects with international agencies, on how to provide employment in rural areas, by creating clever items from natural plant products to sell to tourists in Guatemala City, Lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Tikal, etc. We already have a list of what local, native, Mayan plants and trees could be used.
As soon as donations, contributions, or grants allow us to obtain a 4WD double-cabin Toyota or Madza pickup (or Ford F250 of comparable size) we can achieve more. Plus it would help to have access to
Schneider Xenon f1.6, 35 mm lens (for photographing trees)
Zeiss Otis f1.4, 55mm lens (for photographing trees out in a field),
Schneider Macro Symmar f2.4, 85mm, for high-res close-ups of flowers
a Canon EF 500mm f/4.0L IS II USM prime telephoto lens (for photographing flowers and fruits high in trees, or a tree which is across a creek or on the other side of a narrow canyon).
Plus one really high-power PC and one fully-equipped Mac to handle high-resolution photographs (here at FLAAR we use both Mac and PC, since some software prefers one or the other).
Posted the last days of December 2014 as preparation for 2015
"Flor de Muerto" is a marigold flower which is used to decorate the graves of deceased relatives. Millions of people in Latin America (and elsewhere) celebrate the first days of November by honoring their dead relatives. Flowers are placed on the graves.
Marigold flowers are the primary flower, but each year more plastic flowers are used, or cheap flowers spray painted with bright chemical colors. So we are trying to find and photograph Mayan areas of Guatemala where actual native flowers are still used.
Marigolds come in many sizes and shapes; most are yellow but other colors occur. Several species provide a yellow dye colorant (to color food or to color cloth). Some marigolds have rather potent chemical composition, especially Tagetes lucida (a species whose flower is very different in size and shape than the larger daisy-like marigold flowers).
The name "flor de Muerto" is used for almost any marigold but I estimate is most appropriate for the medium sized flower with closely bunched petals. And usually darkish colors rather than all bright yellow.
Flor de Muerto, Maya flowers for deceased relatives
Whenever we find seeds of medicinal plants we bring them back to our ethnobotanical garden to plant them. So year by year we gradually have a diverse variety of medicinal plants growing around our office.
The importance of having the plants at the office is so we can photograph their flowers. Plus, if the plants are growing on the porch in front of my desk, it is a lot easier to notice in which month the plant is blooming (than trying to find the same plant blooming out in the fields and forests of remote parts of Guatemala).
The reason for photographing the flowers is to help in accurate identification of the plants. Also, most medicinal plants have not been photographed with high-resolution cameras nor with good lighting techniques. So the photographs from the FLAAR team of photographers can assist all those who welcome documentation of rare and endangered species of Mesoamerica
Passiflora quadrangularis, Badea. Fruit in our garden used for seed
Our long range goals are to assist movie directors and location scouts to have authentic locations for Mesoamerican-related documentaries and movies, and to have remarkably accurate yet memorable eco-systems for any and all animated films on the Aztec, Maya, Olmec, Teotihuacan, Mixtec, Zapotec or other Mesoamerican culture or civilization.
Since Nicholas has worked on the archaeology of Peru for both a Harvard project and then also a Yale project, we could easily transition our abilities on the Maya and Aztec to the Inca.
To reach this level of ability, Nicholas Hellmuth has been doing field work and locational studies for decades. He was in Mexico already at age 16, in Guatemala by age 17, and was living in the seasonal rain forests of Guatemala by age 19.
For the last decade Senior Review Editor Hellmuth and his team of writers and researchers have been writing about digital photography equipment, software, and of course 3D imaging.
Assistant Editor Andrea Mendoza has been working on 3D imaging of the largest trees in Mesoamerica, the Ceiba pentandra, including testing drones for 3D scanning (we quickly learned that a GoPro camera is all PR release and zero actual ability to do this kind of scientific result).
SIGGRAPH 2015, conferences, 9-13 August 2015 Exhibition, 11-13-August 2015
While visiting the parents of one of the student interns (who has a scholarship from FLAAR to study computer science and Q'eqchi' plant names), we found a substantial pod of guapinol, Hymenaea courbaril.
This pod was significantly larger than the pods we found under a guapinol, Hymenaea courbaril tree 40 minutes east of Lachua, Alta Verapaz.
Size difference is because it is warm climate near Lachua and colder, more mist, and higher altitude between Senahu and Cahabon (where the family of Senaida live).
Giant pod of guapinol, Hymenaea courbaril, found in Q'eqchi' house.
To help students and scholars, as well as people around the world who are interested in Maya culture, we continue studies of Ceiba aesculifolia. This is the relative of the arbol nacional, Ceiba pentandra. Ceiba aesculifolia, pochote, cebillo in local slang, grows mostly in extremely dry areas, and may have longer conical spines (though many trees have almost no spines whatsoever in one eco-system overlooking the Rio Motagua).
Here is a drawing by botany student Vivian Diaz, to show the seedling growth of Ceiba aesculifolia.
