Plenty of peer-reviewed journal articles on Maya plants of Guatemala
But, we have over 300,000+ readers. So our peers are our over quarter-million readers. We work hard, all year, every year, to provide fresh information coupled with gorgeous high-resolution photographs.
Now we are adding a new series of educational publications featuring humorous illustrations. We provide information on remarkable flowers of plants of Guatemala used by the Mayan people for thousands of years. Most of these plants were also used by the Aztec of Mexico.
These new books are based on the same research we use for our botanical publications but are all illustrated: every page, every fact, every observation, is illustrated: and with humor. Plus we add occasional satire.
Although school children would learn huge amounts from these books, we find that parents and grandparents really appreciate the knowledge they get from these books. 4-page illustrated previews are now available as free download (see below).
Endangered species highlighted in our comic books
It is shocking to realize how much of the forests of Guatemala have been bulldozed, burnt over, and destroyed just in the last ten years. We seek to highlight the endangered species whose habitat is being obliterated. Each species of flower, each species of bush or tree, has their own book. Each plant speaks to the reader and explains their life and their dreams and aspirations.
Each book is a personal message from the heart of the fields and forests of the Mayan areas of Guatemala.
Save the forests, birds, and remarkable animals of Guatemala
I was able to save a vast area of Neotropical seasonal rain forest on the northern side of Lake Yaxha and adjacent Lake Sacnab. I worked here five years to create a national park (now visited by thousands of people).
Now is time for the plants and animals of the endangered Maya forests to speak in their own voice, to show their value in being saved from decimation.
All Spice
Achiote
Guatumo
Strangler Fig
Rubber
Nutmeg vs Virola
Heliconia
Hura Polyandra
Tomatoes
Avocados
Here are our educational books on plants. We have storyboards for another 30 titles (so thirty more plant species).
Deer of Guatemala
Macawesome
Jaguarundi
Architect Bird
Blood-Thirsty Mayan Bat
Spider Monkey
Crocodilian Species
Coatimundi
Peccary
Mayan Doggie
Here are our educational books on Maya animals.
As soon as funding is available from individuals, from a helpful corporation, or from a foundation, we can produce books on another thirty species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and creatures of the oceans (two oceans border on Guatemala: Caribbean Sea on one side; Pacific Ocean on the southern coast).
In addition to flowers, plants, and trees,
we also study bees and butterflies
Although our entertaining books are focused on trees, bushes, flowers, nutritious fruits and vegetables, we will also be showing Maya bee comic book characters. Bees are essential to pollinate many of the plants. Butterflies can also help pollination (just not as efficiently as bees; but the fields and forests still need the help of butterflies).
The cacao empire 2000 years ago really rose during Teotihuacan presence
Cacao was much more than a treasure of the Aztec empire. Cacao is grown in many more areas of the Mayan-speaking lands than just Soconusco and the adjacent Costa Sur in Guatemala. Actually Soconusco and the Costa Sur were visited by so many trade caravans from the Olmecs from 1000 BC to the Aztec just before the Spanish conquest, that these cacao areas were probably multi-lingual.
The first real “cacao empire” was that of the Teotihuacanos whose presence throughout much (but not all) of the Costa Sur was studiously avoided being mentioned for decades. The FLAAR Report in 1975 (The Escuintla Hoards) stood as a lone pillar of reality for many years. However still today most books and articles focus on Kaminaljuyu as the focus of Teotihuacan interaction in Guatemala. Yes, that was obviously an important “regional capital” of Teotihuacan power and commerce, but paled in comparison to the extend of land influenced by the Teotihuacan merchants, priests, and warriors of the 3rd through 5th or 6th centuries.
The Olmecs, pre-Olmecs, and post-Olmec (proto-Maya) merchants also impacted the Costa Sur. The presence of pure Olmec portable figurines from the Costa Sur is remarkable. And of course comparable portable Olmec jadeite and figurines from other materials have been found throughout Mesoamerica, even in Aztec caches 2000 years after the Olmec civilization.
Today most cocoa and chocolate which are sold and consumed around the world is grown in Africa. But the origin of cacao as a beverage is Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The actual plant species seems to have come from South America, but Theobroma of minimally three species was in Mesoamerica millennia before the Spanish arrived. It is sad to see so many copy-and-paste web sites which say that cacao comes from South America. In South America the variety of cacao and cacao-like pods were used for their white pulp which surrounds the seeds. The chocolate beverage that was consumed throughout the New World is from Mesoamerica, not from the Inca or Moche or the other impressive civilizations of South America.
Once said, my primary interest today is to identify how many species of trees were sources of cacao for the Maya, Aztec and their neighbors in Oaxaca and dozens of other areas. And even more, my research goal is to study, learn about, and publish about the several dozen herbs, spices, flowers, and other plant parts which were used to flavor cacao drinks for several thousand years.
Most important of all, our #1 goal, is to find each individual pertinent cacao-related plant and cacao flavoring plant, and do high-resolution photographs of fine art giclee quality (since many of these plants are facing being bulldozed, burned out, clear cut from surface mining, and being obliterated by modern plantations of money-making commercial trees which are not native (teak, Brazilian rubber, African palm oil trees are the biggest causes of total destruction of natural eco-systems in Guatemala)).
Glossary on cacao, cocoa, chocolate What is the difference between cacao, cocoa, and chocolate?
cacao: Theobroma cacao is the scientific botanical name of the source of cacao pods and cocoa beans. Theobroma bicolor is a second source of cocoa beans and chocolate.
Theobroma angustifolium is a third source, but botanists have not yet fully identified whether this came from Costa Rica in the times of the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Maya, Toltec or Aztec. Or whether the Spaniards brought Theobroma angustifolium to Guatemala quickly after the conquest. In the 16th-17th centuries the main cacao source in Soconusco of Chiapas, Mexico and Costa Sur of adjacent Guatemala was Theobroma angustifolium. There were thousands of Theobroma angustifolium trees in plantations. But today we found only two individual trees remaining! Today people in the Costa Sur prefer different varieties of Theobroma cacao.
Since the grandfather who still has one of these trees says the cacao drink is very tasty, people who seek an alternative to modern commercial chocolate might like to re-establish Theobroma angustifolium before it disappears.
Chocolate is assumed to come from the Nahuatl language. However linguists and archaeologists argue about precisely which Nahuatl word(s) were the source of this modern spelling (or whether the word chocolate came from a different Mesoamerican source). Either way, to me, chocolate is the final edible product. So I do not see or taste chocolate when I might eat a raw seed of a cacao pod. And the tasty white sap that surrounds all the cacao seeds definitely has no chocolate flavor whatsoever. Nonetheless, the pulp has a great taste and in South America they bred cacao species just for the pulp (the seeds were normally thrown away!).
Cocoa is usually the word used in English instead of the correct, original, botanical name cacao. I tend not to use the word cocoa since it may be confused with coconut or with other plant products. I prefer to use the scientific name cacao. Personally I have always considered that cacao is the raw original bean; and that cocoa is after the bean has been fermented, ground, heated, and processed. I estimate that if you look at a dozen web sites that not all will definite cacao or cocoa the same way.
In the meantime, it would be worthwhile to study whether the Maya, Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec (and much earlier Olmec) used raw cacao beans or processed into cocoa.
Dark chocolate became a fad starting several years ago. So naturally I began to buy the SPECIAL DARK kind of HERSHEY’S COCOA. But if you read the label it says that dark includes Dutched cocoa (sic). And the label warns you that such Dutched cocoa has less antioxidants than natural unsweetened variety.
Pataxte and/or balamte’ both are local names for Theobroma bicolor. Pataxte is raised in many parts of Guatemala, many more areas than are listed in monographs and articles on chocolate.
Theobroma cacao: the most common source of cocoa and chocolate.
Theobroma bicolor: pataxte or balamte; can also make cocoa and chocolate but is not often used commercially.
Theobroma angustifolium: a third tree species whose fruit pods produce seeds (beans) from which tasty cacao drinks can be prepared. Theobroma angustifolium existed in Costa Rica in pre-Columbian times, but botanists have not yet clearly stated one way or another whether this species existed in Socunusco before the Spaniards took over the plantations there. Over 90% of books and articles on cacao, cocoa, and/or chocolate do not mention nor express awareness of the existence of Theobroma angustifolium. The FLAAR team has made the effort to find trees, the only two Theobroma angustifolium trees that we have found where once thousands grew in the 16th-17th centuries.
Canon EOS 6D , EF-65mm Macro, f/16, 1/125, ISO 200, 10:24 am, Aug. 09 2016, Frutas del Mundo, Izabal , Erick Flores, FLAAR. Theobroma bicolor, pataxte flowers with baby cacao pod issuing from the flower at the top.
There are two species of cacao native to Guatemala: pataxte (also called balamte, jaguar tree) and the more common Theobroma cacao.
Canon EOS 6D , EF-65mm Macro, f/16, 1/125, ISO 640, 10:39 am, Jun. 03 2016, Guatemala City , Erick Flores, FLAAR. Here are just flowers: the cacao pods have not yet started to issue from the center of the flower.
FLAAR raises Theobroma cacao around its office in Guatemala City. Pataxte does not accept the cold at this altitude (1500 meters).
We also visit cacao orchards around the country to do close-up photography of the remarkable flowers.
Since there are two species of Mayan chocolate plants, the flowers of each cacao species are a distinct different color.
In March of 2023 our expedition team found and documented mangrove trees along Rio San Pedro, and this has been an exciting finding for our team! This mangrove remnant is remarkably unique, as well as its evolutionary history.
Mangroves have bright green leaves and characteristic aerial roots. Photo by: Vivian Hurtado. Rio San Pedro, March, 2023.
We first got to learn about these mangrove remnants through a series of media publications related to a research project in Mexico (this is Aburto-Oropeza et al. 2021’s study which will be cited later on this note). The researchers of this project located and sequenced various mangrove populations scattered inland throughout the Yucatan peninsula, including some important remnants in the basin of Rio San Pedro. Moreover, some of the highlights of this study include the documentation of a mangrove forest that is located 170 km inland from the Atlantic ocean.
Given that the researchers also mentioned the existence of isolated mangroves in the Guatemalan portion of Rio San Pedro, we decided to start investigating this topic. In that sense, we were able to find that the presence of mangroves in this area had already been discussed in at least two publications, one by Bestelmeyer and Alonso (2000) and the other by Castellanos (2006). We also looked at satellite images of this area, and we found that most of the river's basin is already deforested. So the only chances of finding mangroves would be by asking local people and navigating the river.
Mangroves have bright green leaves and characteristic aerial roots. Photo by: Vivian Hurtado. Rio San Pedro, March, 2023.
Later on, by the request of Mirtha Cano (biologist and administrator of one of the protected biotopes located next to Rio San Pedro) we planned an expedition to Rio San Pedro and Rio Escondido for another documentation project. However, to make the most of this expedition, we started asking local people if we could find the mangroves of Rio San Pedro. And indeed, we found that it was possible to get to some mangrove trees by navigating up river from El Naranjo village, so we did the proper planning to look for the mangroves in the same expedition.
Later on the actual trip, the expedition team did find the mangrove trees, and photographed them. Since then, the team has learned a lot about these mangroves' history and ecology. According to Aburto-Oropeza et al. (2021) these mangrove remnants first got here 120,000 years ago, because of a higher level of the sea. Nowadays, they still survive here because there is a high concentration of calcium in Rio San Pedro. If it was not for the leakage of calcium to the river (from the karstic soils that surround it), these mangroves wouldn't still be growing here. In fact, mangroves are coastal species that grow only on brackish water, with mangroves of Rio San Pedro being an amusing exception.
Mangrove propagule (still attached) collected at Rio San Pedro. Photo by: Vivian Hurtado. Rio San Pedro, March, 2023.
We are currently finishing a PDF report with the photographs of this expedition and helpful data that may assist you, if you are a student or researcher, to learn more about these remarkable mangroves. We hope that our work and the documentation we are doing with these mangroves can encourage you, and the local authorities to study and protect these mangroves. As mentioned before, most of the river basin is deforested and only a few vegetation patches persist, so the risk of losing these mangroves is alarmingly high.
We are planning a second expedition to this area later on this month and we encourage you to look in the next few weeks for the PDF on these mangroves and other ecosystems of the same area.
Bibliography on mangroves from Rio San Pedro
ABURTO-Oropeza, O. BURELO-Ramos, C., EZCURRA, E. EZCURRA, P. HENRIQUEZ, C., VANDERPLANK, S. and F. ZAPATA
2021
Relict inland mangrove ecosystem reveals Last Interglacial sea levels. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2021. Vol. 118, No. 41. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2024518118
Note: This is Aburto-Oropeza et al. ambitious study. They even found another mangrove species, Conocarpus erectus, in the inland mangrove associations from Tabasco, as well as other plant species from coastal mangrove associations.
BALICK, Michael J., NEE, Michael H. and Daniel E. ATHA
2000
Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Belize: With Common Names and Uses. Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden Vol. 85. 246 pages.
BALICK, Michael J. and Rosita ARVIGO
2015
Messages from the Gods: A Guide to the Useful Plants of Belize. The New York Botanical Garden, Oxford University Press.
BESTELMEYER, Brandon T. and Leeanne E. ALONSO (editors)
2000
A Biological Assessment of Laguna del Tigre National Park, Petén, Guatemala. RAP Bulletin of Biological Assessment 16, Conservation International, Washington, DC. 221 pages.
Note: Rhizophora mangle is mentioned in pages 15 and 37, as being present and outside of Laguna del Tigre National Park (which increases the risk of these mangroves not being protected).
BUENO, Joaquín. ALVAREZ, Fernando and Silvia SANTIAGO (editors)
2005
Biodiversidad del Estado de Tabasco. CONABIO, UNAM, Mexico. 370 pages.
CABRERA-Cano, E., and A. SÁNCHEZ-Vázquez
2000
Rhizophoraceae de la Península de Yucatán (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán: Sostenibilidad Maya, 2000).
CASTELLANOS, B. (ed).
2006
Plan Maestro Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre y Biotopo Laguna del Tigre-Río Escondido. Guatemala. Consejo Nacional de Áreas Protegidas – CONAP. Alianza Kanteel. Wildlife Conservation Society. 24 pages.
Note: The existence and location of mangroves is mentioned in pages 31 and 34.
CHIZMAR, Carla
2009
Plantas Comestibles de Centroamérica. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio). Santo Domingo de Heredia. Costa Rica. 360 pages.
COSTA, M., EZCURRA, E., EZCURRA, P., SALINAS-De-Leon, P., TURNER, B., KUMAGAI, J., LEICHTER, J. and O. ABURTO-Oropeza
2022
Sediment depth and accretion shape belowground mangrove carbón stocks across a range of climatic and geologic settings. Limnol Oceanogr, 67: S104-S117. https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12241
ESTRADA Loreto, Feliciana
2010
Indicadores ecológicos de la zona riparia del Río San Pedro, Tabasco, México. MS Thesis, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. 131 pages.
Legislación, cambio de uso de suelo y reforestación en manglares de Cárdenas, Tabasco [Doctoral thesis]. Mexico. Colegio de Postgraduados. 129 pp. http://hdl.handle.net/10521/2356
HERNANDEZ, G., RUIZ, O., SOL, A. and J. VALDEZ
2016
Cambios de uso del suelo en manglares de la costa de Tabasco. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Agricolas Pub. Esp. No. 14. Pp. 2757-2767.
LARA, A., DAY, J., VILLALOBOS, G., TWILEY, R., GUILLEN, H., and A. YÁÑEZ-Arancibia
2005
Structure of a unique inland mangrove forest assemblage in fossil lagoons on the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 13. Pp. 111-122. 10.1007/s11273-004-5197-x.
LUNDELL, Cyrus L.
1937
The Vegetation of Peten. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publ. 478. Washington. 244 pages.
LUNDELL, Cyrus L.
1938
Plants Probably Utilized by the Old Empire Maya of Peten and Adjacent Lowlands. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters 24, Part I:37-59.
MARTINEZ-Camilo, R., GALLARDO-Cruz, J., SOLORZANO, J., PERALTA-Carreta, C., JIMENEZ-Lopez, D., CASTILLO-Acosta, O., SANCHEZ-Gonzalez, M. and J. MEAVE
2020
An assessment of the spatial variability of tropical swamp forest along a 300 km long transect in the Usumacinta River Basin, Mexico. Forests. 2020; 11(12):1238. https://doi.org/10.3390/f11121238
THOM, B.
1967
Mangrove Ecology and Deltaic Geomorphology: Tabasco, Mexico. Journal of Ecology. Vol. 55, No. 2. Pp. 301–343. https://doi.org/10.2307/2257879
TREJO-Torres, J., DURAN, R. and I. OLMSTED
1993
Manglares de la Península de Yucatán. In: Salazar-Vallejo, S. and N.. González (comps.). Biodiversidad Marina y Costera de México. CONABIO and CIQRO. Pp. 660-672.k.
ZAPATA, F.
2021
Rhizophora mangle from Yucatan. GitHub. https://github.com/zapata-lab/ ms_rhizophora. Deposited 9 June 2021.
Livingston stands out for the biodiversity of species that inhabit its area. Something that you can find very often is the Mangrove. During these 11 months exploring the lakes, rivers and beaches we have been able to document 4 types of mangroves. Red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle), White mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), Black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) and Button mangrove also called Buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus). Each one has interesting potential uses, for example, from Buttonwood, Black mangrove and white Mangrove is extracted the bark for tanning animal skins, meanwhile the Red mangrove is used for house construction, fences, tanning skins, dye colorants and the roots are edible.
Fact: Even if the 4 species are called “mangrove”, they belong to different families as you can see in the next table:
Common name
Scientific name
Family
Black mangrove
Avicennia germinans
Acanthaceae
White mangrove
Laguncularia racemosa
Combretaceae
Button mangrove
Conocarpus erectus
Combretaceae
Red mangrove
Rhizophora mangle
Rhizophoraceae
Mangroves are one of the most important ecosystems in the world, they are valued approximately at $194,000 per hectare annually, according to Costanza et al (2014). Its importance relates principally with the shelter that provide to different species, that’s why are considered biodiversity hotspots; and also because the livelihoods that represent for many local communities. Additional to this, mangroves create living barriers that serve as a natural coastal defense against storm surges, tsunamis, sea-level rise, and erosion, serve as a “nursery” or refuge for the young of a large number of species. And not only this, but, mangroves are essential to maintaining water quality, because its roots can filter and trap sediments or pollutants, preventing contamination of downstream waterways and protecting different habitats, such as coral reefs. Finally, mangroves help to regulate the weather and annually sequester carbon at a rate two to four times greater than mature tropical forests and store three to five times more carbon per equivalent area than tropical forests (IOC-UNESCO).
Avicennia germinans mangle negro at aldea San Juan, Livingston. July, 2021.Photo by Guillermo Cuz, FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Conocarpus erectus mangle botoncillo fruit at Rio Sarstun, Livingston. February, 2021. Photo by David Arrivillaga, FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Laguncularia racemosa mangle blanco green fruits at Playa Quehueche, Livingston. Photo was taken with a Sony RX10 camera, 6mm lens, at 9:32 am, July 29,2021. Photo by Victor Mendoza, FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Rhizophora mangle mangrove red mangle rojo at Lagunita Creek, Livingston. Photo by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth, July 3,2021.
Posted August 4, 2021
Written by Vivian Hurtado & Roxana Leal Identified Species by Victor Mendoza
