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.

Reports by FLAAR Mesoamerica
on Flora & Fauna of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo
Peten, Guatemala, Central America

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Merremia tuberosa vine flowers open in FLAAR garden

Posted Nov 21, 2018


9:37 am Nikon D810, 200mm, f/13.0, 1/200, ISO 800	9:47 pm Nikon D810, 200mm, f/13.0, 1/200, ISO 6400

The two best documented flowers that contain chemicals that vulcanize latex from native Maya rubber tree Castilla elastica bloom in the FLAAR Mayan Ethnobotanical Research Garden. Ethnobotanist Dr Suzanne Cook has documented that the juice, from both these vines, is used by the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico to create viable rubber.

The Olmec 3500 years ago and the Maya 1500 years ago used these vines to make latex sap into rubber that could bounce (for the rubber ball game balls, for example). MIT researcher Michael J. Tarkanian has done actual experiments (in Chiapas, Mexico) with Ipomoea alba with Castilla elastica for his B.S. and M.S. theses.

We (FLAAR, USA and FLAAR Mesoamerica, Guatemala) estimate that Merremia tuberosa may grow also in the Yaxha park. We also feel that other "morning glory vines" may also have chemicals to vulcanize rubber. So every month we visit Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo to update the lists of plants to find all utilitarian plants that would have helped the Classic Maya for thousands of years at Yaxha, Nakum, Naranjo, Topoxte Island and all the other sites around the park areas.

Ecosystems, National Parks, Amazing Plants and Animals of Guatemala

Posted Nov. 12, 2018

Lecture by Dr Nicholas Hellmuth, Friday, November 30, 2018; Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, as part of the I CONGRESO ECOLÓGICO DE ALTA VERAPAZ (in honor of Parque Nacional Laguna Lachua).

This lecture will show high-resolution photographs of giant birds in flight (at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo). Will show awesome beautiful bright colored flowers of parasitic plants and remarkable pineapple-related bromeliads (terrestrial).

images/Lecture-Educacion-Ambiental-Sostenibilidad-Ecosistemas-Coban-Alta-Verapaz-Guatemala-Nicholas-Hellmuth

DOWNLOAD LECTURE PREVIEW

The final slide will be an aquatic orchid in full bloom: literally, an orchid about 2 meters from the shores of Lake Yaxha.

This orchid is NOT fallen from a tree; this is a kind of “bog orchid” or “swamp orchid” associated with the tall grass-like vegetation along the shores of many lakes. This orchid, to our knowledge, is not in any botanical book of orchids of Guatemala. It is not, we repeat, it is not an orchid fallen from a tree: it literally grows up from the roots of water plants. We found it in more than six different locations.

If you return to this web site in about 2 days we will have a preview that you can download (sample slides from the Powerpoint presentation). We hope to see you in Coban, Alta Verapaz on November 30th.

If you are interested in jaguars of Central America, on the home page of www.maya-archaeology.org you can download a sample of the lecture by Hellmuth at a jaguar conference last week.

If you can’t get to Coban, Dr Hellmuth can present either or both these lectures in your city anywhere in the world.

In case you are attending the expo, here is a map with the location of the event and the Hotel Monja Blanca where Dr Hellmuth is staying.

Exposicion-internacional-orquideas-Guatemala

Click to enlarge

Arboreal cactus vine, nocturnal flower opening at night

Posted Nov 9, 2018


5:24 pm Bud is so plump that it is obvious that it will open this same evening.	6:36 pm After two hours of photography every 5 to 10 minutes, the flower finally begins to open more dramatically.

6:46 pm	7:21 pm

The flower at 7:44 pm, about 98% open.	7:51 pmm

Selenicereus testudo is the most common arboreal cactus plant at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo. In all the diverse eco-systems we have, so far, not located one single solitary terrestrial cactus plant: not even any Opuntia. So there are scores of native terrestrial cacti species in the Rio Motagua dry zone and the Rio Sacapulas dry zones of Guatemala. But zero in Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo (however if we or anyone else finds a wild terrestrial cactus plant, we will be glad to revise this conclusion).

Selenicereus testudo is easy to find among the Mayan ruins of Yaxha, Topoxte Island, Nakum, and Naranjo. Its roots do not need to be in the ground.

The flowers we find at Yaxha are very very similar to Hylocereus costaricensis, but that other Pitaya is native to the southern part of Central America (Costa Rica and Nicaragua).

We will present the series of scores of time-lapse photos in a PDF format by next week. In the meantime, here are three photos showing the first, middle, and final phase of opening of this night-blooming tree cactus.

Another photogenic terrestrial bromeliad of Peten, Guatemala

Posted Oct. 15, 2018

Bromelia pinguin ripening fruits Naranjo

Click to open complete photo .
Photographed by Nicholas Hellmuth with the remarkable camera in the brand new Apple iPhone Xs.

Bromeliads tend to grow up in trees; they use the branches and forks in the tree for support. A photogenic example on Topoxte Island (Lake Yaxha), Yaxha ruins, and Nakum ruins areas is Aechmea bracteata. These bromeliads are not parasites.

But there are several genera of bromeliads which are terrestrial (they live only on the ground). Some are solitary or if in a group, only a few (Bromelia karatas) but others occur in massive colonies of hundred(s) of plants. Aechmea magdalenae is found in literally masses, around seasonal aguadas (seasonal waterholes). Teco helped us find two such impressive areas between Yaxha and Nakum.

A week ago, while driving between the Naranjo section of Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Q’eqchi-Mayan plant scout, Pedro Chub Choc, of the FLAAR Mesoamerica, saw a previously unseen mass of unknown bromeliads with a mass of plum-sized fruits directly along the edge of the road. Our research team was able to identify these as Bromelia pinguin.

The spiny leaves help this Bromelia pinguin plant be a popular “living fence” since neither animals nor people will cross a row of these spiny plants. But they are mainly in extremely dry areas: Jocotan or the Motagua River dry areas (km 50 to 100). Thus I was very surprised to find Bromelia pinguin wild in Peten.

One of our goals in the Yaxha Nakum Naranjo national park is to make a list of as many of the unique plants as possible. Even though this thicket of bromeliads is outside the park, now that we know its eco-system (surprisingly, on a low hill, NOT in an aguada area), we can try to find the same species within the park. We believe they can be found between Yaxha and Nakum, though the eco-system there is not hilly, but dry seasonally wet “aguada-like” areas. More to come after we do further research.

If you enjoy seeing photogenic and exotic plants, consider visiting Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guatemala. You can stay at the hotel Ecolodge El Sombrero (and if you are clever to be there same days as Dr Hellmuth and the FLAAR team are there, you can have dinner and ask questions).

Why do the photographers at FLAAR like to attend Photokina?

Posted Aug. 9, 2018

Two of our review editors at FLAAR will be at Photokina 2018: Erick Flores and Dr Nicholas Hellmuth. We hope to see you there. We photograph all around the world, but our favorite are Neotropical plants of the Mayan world (Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador).

Since we photograph such a diverse range of plants, animals, landscapes, historical architecture, it helps to attend Photokina. We attended Photokina 2016 and will attend Photokina 2018.

About every three days, Ipomoea alba plants have been blooming in our FLAAR Mayan Ethnobotanical Research Garden (surrounding our office in Guatemala City).

Ipomoea alba opening photo equipment setup Nikon Canon Erick Westcott Gitzo

Here in this photo you will notice that we have multiple cameras aimed at three different flowers which open between 6:40 and 7 pm last night. Nicholas is using two Nikons (D810 and D5); Erick is using a Canon EOS 1DX Mark II. All lighting is by F. J. Westcott (Spiderlite TD5, still hard at work after over a decade); all tripods are Gitzo via Manfrotto (functional after many many many years). If you want to see the setting (in the FLAAR Mayan Ethnobotanical Research Garden, 1500 meters above sea level, Guatemala) click here

But what we need are better ring lights, plus lighting which is more “directional” (like old-fashioned Dedolights, but lights which don’t require all the accessories). So one item we will be looking for at Photokina 2018 are lights for macro photography. SAVAGE is moving in this direction so we will be sure to be in their booth at Photokina 2018.

We will also be looking for ring lights (because Nikon curiously does not offer ring lights). Canon has really excellent ring lights; Nikon has separate individual units that are great for some situations, but are not as good as ring lights in some situations.

If you are planning to attend Photokina 2018 this September 26 to 29, you can have as a free download our Photokina 2016 report with recomendations, comments and brands who were present. Also with photo studio equipment exhibited and digital camara reviews.

Olmec and Maya vulcanization plant is flowering in front of FLAAR Mesoamerica office

Aug. 1, 2018

Ipomoea alba at our Mayan Ethnobotanical Research garden, Guatemala CIty, 1500 meters altitude.
Photo taken with a Nikon D5, natural light, no flash, Gitzo tripod, early evening (circa 6:15pm).
The flower at the right opened first; the flower at the right opened about six minutes later.

On www.FLAAR.org home page we show a third flower that opened 3 minutes later about one meter away.

Ipomoea alba is one of several "morning glory vines" whose juice allowed the Olmec, Maya, Aztec and all their neighbors to vulcanize rubber (thousands of years before Thomas Goodyear thought he had "invented" vulcanization).

We also have the other vine (different Genus and species) in our garden and hope to get the others growing soon. This other vine grows within two meters of Castilla elastica trees (native Mesoamerican rubber tree) out in the wild. Ipomoea alba grows about 20 km away (in same eco-system).

We photographed the opening sequence so we can make a video (out of the 350 individual photos we took over a 12 minute period).

Will take a while to turn all the photos into the video, so check back later this summer.

Photogenic mushroom, Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala

Posted July 24, 2018

Click to enlarge
Photographed July 21, 2018, 4:41pm, Nikon D810 camera, no tripod.

Photogenic mushroom growing on the base of Guadua bamboo trees along a small river, several kilometers south of Teleman, Guatemala.

The brown part was covered with scores of insects.

Updating our list of 4-petalled Mayan flowers

Posted July 20, 2018

4-petaled flowers and 4-rows sepalos

Here is a sample of the 4-petalled flowers we have found growing in remote areas of Guatemala.

4-petalled flowers were used to decorate Late Classic (Tepeu 2) polychrome vases, bowls, and plates throughout the Peten and adjacent areas.

I discovered two bowls with 4-petalled flower designs in Burial 196, Tomb of the Jade Jaguar, Tikal Str. 5D-76, in 1965, while a Harvard student working as an architectural and photographic student intern on the University of Pennsylvania Tikal Project.

4-petaled flowers and 4-rows sepalos

I have always been curious what actual flowers were the models. My ICA Salamanca 2018 lecture on this topic will be posted next week. Then later we will issue a PDF showing the entire list of 4-petalled flowers that exist in Guatemala, and indicate which we have found and photographed, and which we still need to locate so we can photograph them.

We have discovered totally unexpected epigraphic and iconographic documentation during the recent 6 years of photographic field trips in every eco-system of Guatemala.

FLAAR team finds more wild orchid vines in Guatemala

Posted May 8, 2018

Wild vanilla vine, Izabal, Guatemala, April 8, 2018, Erick Flores, FLAAR Mesoamérica.
Canon EOS 1Dx Mark II , EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM Lens, f/10, 1/125, ISO 125

While in Izabal several weeks ago, courtesy of the many hospitable people we know there, we found two areas with wild vanilla orchid vines. One was at water level (literally), alongside the Izabal waterways. The second was about 10 km away, in the hills south of Lago Izabal.

In each location there were “wild vanilla orchid vines everywhere around us.”

Experienced orchid botanist Fredy Archilla is letting us know when other vanilla orchid vines elsewhere may bloom. Plus we have several contacts who have told us about wild vanilla vines that their friends know about.

It is essential NOT to collect wild vines from the forests without special permission. It is even more helpful that the trees are not chopped down: vanilla orchid vines require trees to grow, flower, and produce vanilla pods.

More to come, but we definitely want to have Guatemala given more space in ALL future articles and monographs on vanilla orchids of the world. The Maya of Tikal and of El Mirador had orchid vines. We estimate wild vanilla vines can be found at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo.

We are also working on Muc (Orejuela, a seasoning) and wild bamboo native to Guatemala… yes, bamboo of the Mayan areas: not bamboo from Asia.

Ceiba trees everywhere

Posted Feb. 15, 2018

Canon EOS 6D, 300mm, f/7.1, 1/1400, ISO 500, 11:56am, Feb. 11 2018, Bocas de Polochic River, Melanny Quiñonez, FLAAR.

More Ceiba pentandra trees are visible along the Rio Polochic from Lake Izabal towards Panzos than almost anywhere else in the country. I personally experienced more ceiba trees this one day (Feb. 11th_2018) than in my previous 54 years of being in front of Ceiba trees throughout Mesoamerica.

More than 25% were flowering. Ceiba pentandra trees are very individual and independent of whether they will flower any given year. And you can have several ceiba trees together in the same field and some will be in flower yet others will have full leaf growth (which means no flowering whatsoever that month or perhaps that year).

I was also very surprised to note that many of these Ceiba pentandra trees were growing in seasonal swamp areas. A few were physically adjacent to the Rio Polochic (as I would expect their relatives, Pachira aquatica). Although there are lots of Pachira aquatica trees around Lake Izabal, I did not notice one single zapoton along the Rio Polochic (whose water is the source of Lake Izabal!).

I took over 400 photographs: 60mm Sigma lens, 100mm Zeiss lens, 200mm using a Nikon D810; 400mm, and 600mm Nikkor prime telephoto lenses with a Nikon D5 on a Wimberley WH-200 gimbal tripod head II on a 20+ year old awesome quality Gitzo tripod.