When time and funding permit, each flower (each plant species) will have its own page, and its own PDF, and eventually its own PPT so that professors and students have plenty of material on Guatemala (and Honduras, etc) to study.
Heliconia adflexa, Coban, Guatemala, Hotel Monja Blanca, FLAAR, by Nicholas Hellmuth
This space is for flowers we have recently found and photographed.
Xylopia frutescens, known as Malaquete or Malaqueta in Guatemala is an evergreen tree with a longish, spreading crown and horizontal branches, it can reach grows 8 meters tall.
The tree is harvested as a source of food, the fruits are aromatic and can be used as a condiment. It also has medical uses for local people for catarrhal infections, dental cavities, stomach complaints, and other treatments. Some research listed in this bibliography suggest that the plant has antitumour and anti-viral properties.
The flowers of Malaqueta have a heavenly aroma. The mature seeds have a great taste of the material around the seed (you don’t eat the seeds themselves, just the material around them). Standley and Steyermark say that in Honduras oil from the seeds is used as a hair tonic (1946: 294). And the trees (sadly, if chopped down) can be used for house construction in rural areas. Ethnobotanist Cyrus Lundell (1938) mentions the use of the wood as house poles and as poles to use instead of paddles to move dugout canoes in shallow water. He does not mention this tree as having any edible or medicinal part. But local people in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, have told us about the edible aspects.
Malagueta or malaqueta, Xylopia frutescens. Photo by Nicholas Hellmuth at Aldea Buena Vista, Tapon Creek. Photo taken on the 4th of July, 2021
PDF, Articles, Books on Xylopia frutescens
De SOUZA, L., De CARVALHO, A. C. CABRAL, L., VASCONCELOS, L. H. C.,
CORREIRA, M, De OLIVEIRA, V. C., FECHINE J., PAREDES, E. J., De ANDRADE, F.
and Bagnólia ARAÚJO
2015
Essential oil from Xylopia frutescens Aubl. reduces cytosolic calcium levels on guinea pig ileum: mechanism underlying its spasmolytic potential. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 15: 327
BARBOSA, W., CAETANO-Da Silva, J., SILVA-Araujo, M. G., LOPES-da Silva A. L.,
CHAVES-Vasconcelos, T. L., CABRAL-Dos Santos, K. M., De ASSIS-Bastos, M. L.,
SALES-Santos Verissimo, R. C. and T. H. LINS-Bernardo
2016
Biological potential of plant species Xylopia frutescens: An integrative review. Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, Vol. 8, No. 7, pages 794-800
FERRAZ, Rosana P. C., CARDOSO, Gabriela M. B., Da SILVA, Thanany B., Do N.
Fotes, José Eraldo, Do N. Prata, Ana Paula, CARVALHO, Adriana A., MORASES,
Manoel O., PESSOA, Claudia, COSTA, Emmanoel V. and BEZERRA, Daniel P.
2013
Antitumour properties of the leaf essential oil of Xylopia frutescens Aubl. (Annonaceae). Food Chemistry Vo. 141, pages 196-200
SENA Filho, José G., DURINGER, Jennifer M., CRAIG, A. Morrie, SCHULER Alexandre R. P. and Haroudo S. Xavier
2008
Preliminary Phytochemical Profile and Characterization of the Extract from the Fruits of Xylopia frutescens Aubl. (Annonaceae). Journal of Essential Oil Research, Vol. 20
