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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Logwood, of Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize |
One of the best known sources of colorants for the ancient Maya is logwood. The Maya could use colorants from plants and cochinal insects to dye their cotton cloth, their bark paper (cloth), their henequen or other materials for clothing. For painting murals and painting buildings they had plenty of additional colorants from clay and minerals. But many web sites and even some scholarly botanical monographs confuse the two types of the logwood tree. So this discussion seeks to point out to Mayanists to be careful in using the name Palo de Brasil when they really mean Palo de Campeche.
Palo de Brasil and Palo de Campeche are two different species Haematoxylum campechianum is palo de Campeche. Haematoxylum brasiletto is palo de Brasil. This country is spelled Brasil in Spanish. Haematoxylum brasiletto grows best in dry desert areas. Haematoxylum campechianum grows along rivers or in seasonal swamps. In other words, Palo de Campeche needs lots of water; Palo de Brazil prefers very dry areas (but where it does rain at least a month or so a year).
Where to find Palo de Campeche Palo de Campeche is found in many areas of El Peten and adjacent Campeche on the west and Belize on the east. Between Lake Yaxha and Lake Sacnab there is plenty of palo de tinto. In Mexico you can of course find palo de Campeche in Campeche. Plus along the Rio Lagartos, north-central coast of Yucatan (Jim Conrad, www.backyardnature.net). Abundant botanical articles by Mexican scholars list where else you can find it, such as Tabasco and Quintana Roo. And correspondingly in Belize (which was founded by logwood cutters).
Where to find Palo de Brazil
The type of soil or rock is very different for the two species This eco-system overlooking the Motagua River is hilly, and rocky. Many Palo de Brasil trees grow from the rock cliffs or from the rock road-cuts (where the highway has cut through the mountain decades ago). None of this is Karst; this is an area of completely different kind of rock. I do not believe any of this is limestone (though would want a geologist to comment further). Palo de Brazil blooms for many months
Along any river whose banks are literally covered with logwood, almost never do you see flowers. It is my impression that Palo de Campeche blooms only a short period. We also need to check to see whether every individual tree blooms every year (I assume it does bloom every year, but Ceiba pentandra species do not whatsoever). Many books, articles, and web sites confuse the two trees Both trees are called palo de tinto, though the correct one would be Palo de Campeche. Curiously even Lundell's 1937 book on vegetation of the Peten lists both species for El Peten. I estimate that the presence of Palo de Brasil in El Peten is highly unlikely, since Palo de Brasil is at home in the very very dry desert-like area along the hills overlooking the Rio Motagua. There are several species of cacti in the same areas. So I would not expect such plants in the seasonal rain forest area of El Peten. So I would suggest that botanists need to work out this situation and be sure that Palo de Brazil is not found in Peten, Campeche, Tabasco, or Belize. The monograph by Suzanne Cook on ethnobotany of the Lacandon area of Chiapas is the best ethnobotanical study of this area so far. Her first edition also suggests both species are in her research area: Haematoxylon spp., H. campechianum L., H. brasiletto Karst. I would be very surprised to find Palo de Brasil in the Lacandon area of Chiapas. The second edition will remove the Palo de Brasil mention. She documents the presence of Haematoxylon campechianum on the basis of When you Google simply logwood, mexico the first and the third entries stick you (potentially incorrectly) with Palo Brasil. Even Wikipedia lists Haematoxylum brasiletto as Mexican logwood. The otherwise excellent source, http://www.medicinatradicionalmexicana.unam.mx/monografia.php?l=3&t=&id=7910, claims palo Brasil "originaria del note de Granada…" Since this palo de Brasil tree is happily growing throughout the dry hills overlooking the Motagua River, I am assuming it is native to Guatemala (and to Mexico). Osborne (1935:54) mentions brazilwood so Schevill, Berlo, Dwyer (editors) feature this (1996 edition, pp. 367 and 370). Brazilwood is Caesalpinia echinata; not either of the palo de tinto trees. The most unexpected confusion between Palo de Brasil and Palo de Campeche is in Cyrus Lundell's otherwise excellent monograph on The Vegetation of Peten. On page 63 he clearly states that Haematoxylum brasiletto is "common in the central areas of swamp forest (tintal). He then lists Haematoxylum campechianum on the same page as "very common in central areas of swamp forest." Fortunately there is one web site which carefully describes and pictures all three trees:
(http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph4.htm)
Palo de Campeche was used in temples, palaces, and tombs The most famous lintels in Maya palaces are of chico zapote wood. But I found vault beams of palo de tinto in the Tomb of the Jade Jaguar (Tikal Burial 196). And you can find other buildings of the Classic Maya with lintels of palo de Campeche. For example, the lintels of Santa Rosa Xtampak (Campeche) may be of various woods; more than just chico zapote. Show the downloads, all volumes, of this Harvard thesis (several volumes). Show the download of any Santa Rosa Xtampak reports
Palo de Tinto gets its name because it produces colors Lots of books and articles are available which describe the colors which you can obtain from palo de tinto. During the Industrial Revolution in the UK, they brought in tons of palo de tinto from Belize.
First posted April 2015 |