If you are interested in ethnobotany, Biotopo Cerro Cahai is a place with lots of different plants. For example, we found many edible cauliflorous fruits of Parmentiera aculeata, cuajilote. This tree fruits and flowers directly from the trunk. The flowers are similar size and unusual shape as the cauliflorous flowers of Crescentia cujete (jicara) and Crescentia alata (morro).
We include a list of 27 species of wild plants native to this part of the Reserva de la Biosfera Maya that are edible.
If you are a botanist, ecologist, archaeologist, and especially if working in Mesoamerica, this report is for you.
This report has one of our user-friendly maps to show you where Biotopo Cero Cahui is located and thus how you can easily get here.
Our 15-month project in the eastern half of Izabal area of Guatemala has evolved to focusing on wetlands vegetation and habitats: swamps, marshes, riverside ecosystems, lake and lagoon side ecosystems, and the biodiverse areas inland starting several meters from the Caribbean Beach (of Amatique Bay). This Municipio de Livingston area project has three more months before this phase is completed.
My immersion in wetlands of Izabal has motivated me to focus on wetlands of the Reserva de Biosfera Maya (RBM). The RBM is the entire northern half of Peten: from Lake Peten Itza at the south all the way up to the Peten-Campeche border at the north; and from the Peten-Chiapas border at the west across to the Peten-Belize border at the east.
Since savannas of RBM are seasonally inundated (as are the adjacent bajos, tintal areas that surround the grassland savannas), I am including savannas in our coverage of wetlands. We have documented several remarkable savannas during our 2018-2019 project in PNYNN (Parque Nacional Yaxha, Nakum and Naranjo). Now we continue there plus are expanding to cover the entire project area: Reserva de la Biosfera Maya (RBM). So in August we visited two savannas in the far southeast part of Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre (PNLT). We focus on the far southeast because 99% of previous helpful ecological, botanical, and zoological research by other professors in this park has been at the west and northwest.
Today we wish to share the video of “Dr Nicholas” (Hellmuth) entering for the first time a grassland savanna never studied by any geographer, ecologist or botanist that we are aware of.
This was filmed by Boris Llamas and Andrea Bocamonte of FLAAR Mesoamerica and produced by Camila Morales of anima.works and expanded by video production specialist Sofia Monzon (who worked with FLAAR and with FLAAR Mesoamerica many past years).
Throughout the Chocón Machacas River you can find Callingcard vine (Entada polystachya) or in Spanish “bejuco de agua”, “bejuco Prieto”. It is a plant that seems to be very spongy and can be observed in 3 colors: green, white and brown. The buttons are green and when they open they turn white and brown. Its fruits are legumes, that means, pods. It is a plant with a foul odor.
Ecology: Tall climbing shrub, no spines present. The flowers are grouped and very flowered clusters are seen, depending on their stage of development, it turns into different colors. The fruits are pods that are 5 to 6cm wide.
Distribution: Native to tropical America. It lives in a warm climate between 550 and 800 meters above sea level. It is associated with disturbed vegetation derived from mangroves, tropical deciduous forest, grassland, and thorn forest. This means that it is a very adaptable plant to different ecosystems.
Ethnobotany uses: The ground seeds of this species are used to apply topically, it is used to prevent hair loss; the soaked root to wash the hair; and stem water in eye infections. A slightly sweet, pale yellow resin is obtained from the tree and sometimes it is used as a dye.
KINGDOM
Plantae
PHYLLO
Spermatophyta
CLASS
Magnoliopsida
ORDER
Fabales
FAMILY
Fabaceae
GENUS
Entada
SPECIES
Entada polystachya
References
BIBLIOTECA DIGITAL DE LA MEDICINA TRADICIONAL MEXICANA
2016
Atlas de las plantas de la medicina tradicional mexicana. Bejuco prieto (Entada polystachya)
Cafecillo (Casearia aculeata) is a very showy plant, its fruit is very peculiar since it is green on the outside and on the inside it is red with an orange seed. When you touch the red color inside the fruit it stains your finger a bit, although it is removed quickly. Its flower is white and has three petals. This species was photographed in Río Chocón Machacas, Livingston, Izabal.
It is a species of tree of the SALICACEAE family, it is distributed in flooded areas in both the Pacific and Atlantic areas. It is a species that is found from Mexico to Panama and in the Antilles, and part of South America. It is a spiny, evergreen shrub or small tree, usually growing 2 - 3 m tall, but with occasional specimens to 10 m.
It is a kind of cauliflory plant, this means that the flowers are born directly from the stems. Where axillary buds that have the potential to form inflorescences originate, they are located at the angle or axilla, between the stem and the petiole of the leaves.
Photography by: David Arrivillaga, Chocon Machacas (2021)
Uses:
The fruits serve as food for birds. The wood is used for firewood as energy. It is an ornamental commonly used for living fences. (Mahecha, E. 2004) This species is given the name "devil's coffee" because it is accused of being poisonous. It has high alkaloid content so it is used as a pesticide. (Pérez Arbelaez, E. 1996).
Taxonomy:
KINGDOM
Plantae
PHYLLO
Magnoliophyta
CLASS
Magnoliopsida
ORDER
Malpighiales
FAMILY
Salicaceae
GENUS
Casearia
SPECIES
Casearia aculeata
COMMON NAME
Cafecillo, capilin, jiga
Posted September 28, 2021
Written by Vivian Hurtado & Roxana Leal Identified Species by Victor Mendoza
On the last day of the September expedition of the Biodiversity of Livingston project part of the team went to visually document underwater species in Cañon del Río, Río Dulce, Livingston area. We found aquatic plants.
We use the new underwater photography equipment a SONY RX100 VII camera, a SONY Underwater Housing MPK-URX100A, and a Weefine Ring Light 1000. Here we show you the results.
Brandon Hidalgo and Victor Mendoza using the new underwater photography equipment.
Potamogeton illinoensis photographed by Victor Mendoza using the Sony RX100, Cañon de Rio Dulce.
Macrophytes are characterized by have been adapted to aquatic life, which is why they have a thin epidermis, dysfunctional stomata and little lignified elements. They inhabit lagoons, dams, swamps, riverbanks, lakes and even the seas. These are important since they serve as a filter for nutrients in water bodies, in addition to producing oxygen and can maintain the ecological balance in their aquatic habitat.
In Rio Dulce, different macrophytes were found, among which Potamogeton illinoensis, Vallisneria americana, Nymphaea ampla, and an introduced species called Hydrilla sp.
CLASSIFICATION
CHARACTERISTIC
Emerging rooted macrophytes
They are rooted at the bottom of the water body, but their leaf and flora parts emerge from the water.
Floating rooted macrophytes
They are rooted at the bottom of the body of water and their foliar and floral parts only float in the mirror of the water.
Submerged Rooted Macrophytes
They are rooted at the bottom of the body of water and their foliar and floral psartes are submerged in the water.
Floating macrophytes
They are floating in the mirror of the water and their roots are not anchored to the bottom of the body of wáter.
Posted September 27, 2021
Written by Vivian Hurtado & Roxana Leal Identified Species by Victor Mendoza
At the beginning of the Río Chocón Machacas we find a very curious vine with small flowers it was a Passion flower.
Botanical characteristics of the flower: Its colors seem colored with watercolor. Its strains are green, petals white with purple, filaments are yellow, the androgynophor is green and the anthers come out of it, followed by the ovary and to finish their stigmas. This flower was observed by our boatman Cornelio Macz, who accompanied us on the September expedition.
Plant etymology: Passiflora was the generic name adopted by Linnaeus in 1753 and means "passion flower". Derived from the Latin passio which means "passion" and flos which means "flower". This was granted by the Jesuit missionaries in 1610, due to the similarity of some parts of the plant with religious symbols of the Passion of Christ, the whip with which he was beaten being the tendrils, the three nails represented by the styles; stamens and radial corolla being the crown of thorns. It receives the epithet ‘’ biflora’’ derived from the Latin meaning "with two flowers."
In Guatemala you can find 62 species of the Passiflora genus, the 10% are endemic from the country. The areas with the greatest diversity are those that oscillate between 1000-2000 masl in the following departments: Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Chiquimula, Guatemala and Sololá. Some of these species are vulnerable, so it’s important to continue with conservation efforts and support the natural reserves we have (De Macvean & Macdougal, 2012). They are important for the economy since some species are edible, other have medicinal properties and they are also valuable as ornamental flowers because of their beauty.
Passiflora biflora at Rio Chocon Machacas, El Golfete, Livingston. September, 2021. Photo by David Arrivillaga, FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Passiflora biflora at Rio Chocon Machacas, El Golfete, Livingston. September, 2021. Photo by David Arrivillaga, FLAAR Mesoamerica.
Posted September 17, 2021
Written by Vivian Hurtado & Roxana Leal Identified Species by Victor Mendoza
