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
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Bibliography on Guayo, Talisia olivaeformis |
Melicoccus oliviformis, mamón, is potential ancient fruit of the MayaDietrich (2011: 15) says that “cotoperis or guaya (Talisia oliviformis [Kunth.] Radlk.).” are found in home gardens in some parts of the Yucatan peninsula (cited to Caballero 1992). Several other discussions of kitchen gardens also include an oliviformis species. First questions is whether this is Melicoccus oliviformis or Melicoccus-bijugatus? Although the currently accepted botanical name is Melicoccus oliviformis, Talisia oliviformis is on the year 2007 page of www.montosogardens.com/talisia_oliviformis.htm But www.GBIF.org says that Talisia oliviformis (Kunth) Radlk. Is just a synonym and that the proper accepted botanical name nowadays is Melicoccus oliviformis subsp. Oliviformis. Family remains the same: Sapindaceae. Several web sites list the current plant name as Melicoccus oliviformis Kunth. Spanish Guaya or Mamoncillo in Yucatan; name is mamón in Guatemala. However realize that several edible fruits in Guatemala are called mamón: English names are cotoperis, yellow genip. This is a fruit one rarely hears about, though it is included in Lundell’s nice 1938 list (as Talisia olivaeformis (HBK.) Radlk. (wayum, guayo)). Is this mamón Melicoccus oliviformis or Melicoccus-bijugatus There are so many names it’s a headache to know which one is viable: Guaya, Talisia olivaeformis (MacVean 2003:122) Guaya, Talisia oliviformis (Kunth) Radlk. Note difference in spelling of the species. Useful aspects of other species of Talisia genus native to Guatemala, Honduras, etc. Talisia floresii Standl. Poloc, ixezul (Peten, Maya), edible; also used to make spinning toys Talisia floresii, coloc (Yucatec Maya), (Standley and Steyermark Vol. 24, Part VI: 268) is in our list of edible seed pulp or edible aril. This bibliography is to assist students who are considering a thesis or dissertation on plants of the Mayan world. This bibliography is also for botanists who are experts in other aspects but would like to delve deeper into edible and useful plants of the Mayan part of Mesoamerica. This bibliography is for people around the world who would like to learn about what they can experience when they visit Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guatemala (PNYNN). This list of books and articles is also to assist local guides to have material available to provide to the visitors who come with them to learn about the Mayan rain forests around the ancient city of Yaxha, Topoxte Island, Nakum, and Naranjo. Talisia oliviformis, Guayo, Yellow Genip This wild fruit tree grows throughout the Lowlands of the Mayan areas of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. This tree is frequently found around pyramids and acropolises throughout Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo.
Annotated Bibliography on Guayo, Talisia oliviformisPDF, Articles, Books on Talisia oliviformis/ Melicoccus oliviformis
Talisia olivaeformis (HBK.) Radlk. Sitzungsber. Bayer. Akad. 8: 342. 1878. Melicocca olivaeformis HBK. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 5: 100. 1821. Jurgay; Urugualle; Talpajocote; Kenep, Guayo, Uayum (Peten, Maya). Wooded ravines or moist or dry thickets, often planted about dwellings, 500 meters or less; Pete"n; Zacapa; Chiquimula; Baja Verapaz; Jutiapa; Guatemala. Chiapas; Yucatan; British Honduras; Colombia and Venezuela. A tree of 18 meters or less with dense spreading crown, the branchlets and petioles minutely puberulent or almost wholly glabrous; leaflets 4, opposite, elliptic to lance-oblong, mostly 5-12 cm. long, petiolulate, obtuse or short-acuminate with a very obtuse tip, acute to obtuse at the base, thinly coriaceous, the nerves and veins not conspicuous beneath; inflorescences axillary, often glomerate at the ends of the branches, usually small and shorter than the leaves, densely tomentulose, the pedicels 1-2 mm. long; flowers white, 3-4 mm. long, the sepals ovate, acute, tomentulose outside; petals ciliate; fruit subglobose, mammillate at the apex, densely and minutely pale-tomentulose. Called "tinaljuco" in Honduras. In Salvador there is a belief that the tree fruits only once every ten years, a belief probably without basis. It is said to be much planted in Peten, and to be found about the old ruined cities, as if persisting from former cultivation. The fruit is of a handsome sage-green, or at full maturity yellowish. In the fresh state the rind is firm but flexible, enclosing a considerable amount of dull orange-red pulp that has a slightly acid and agreeable flavor. The fruit is not popular in Central America, because of the competition of so many better ones, but it is sometimes sold in the markets, as at Chiquimula, where it was observed in some quantity in April. Note by Hellmuth, we found the fruit ripe on the trees in Izabal in late July. We found lots of fruits on Talisia olivaeformis trees around the Yaxha park in 2018. Other botanists have found this tree in dry areas along the Rio Motagua (http://digi.usac.edu.gt/bvirtual/informes/puirna/INF-2002-023.pdf).
Suggested webpages with photos and information on olivaeformis/ Melicoccus oliviformis www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/wildguay.htm and www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/guaya.htm www.cicy.mx/sitios/flora%20digital/ficha_virtual.php?especie=2356 http://tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Melicoccus+oliviformis www.gbif.org/species/7265169 www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2510157
First posted, August 2018 |