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16 aboriginal peoples usually do not cultivate plants merely to beautify their surroundings. The opposite is true in many, if not most societies. In a number of instances, it is probable that the species were first ornamentally valued but were eventually found to be of more practical value as foods, medicines, narcotics, poisons or for other economic applications” (cited in Griffiths, 1992). Other sources confirm what Schultes said. Nuttall mentions the following example: “The most important of all the ancient gardens of Mexico was that of Huaxtepec which Montezuma had inherited from his predecessor, Montezuma the Elder. Placing Pinotetl as the principal overseer, he first restored its waterways and then dispatched messengers to the tropical coastal region with a request to the Lord of Cuetlaxtla for plants with roots of the vanilla orchid, of cacao and magnolia trees and many valuable vegetables” (Nuttall, 1923: 454). Alvarado Tezozomoc, in his Crónica Mexicana, gives us a detailed description of the gardens of Huaxtepec. According to him, the most primitive gardens of the Nahuas were the artificial islands and peninsulas that were constructed in lagoons (Alvarado Tezozomoc, 1873). Additional information has been furnished by the accounts of Doctor Cervantes de Salazar, whose chronicle of Mexico was published in 1565: “In these flower gardens Montezuma did not allow any vegetables and fruits to be grown, saying that it was not kingly to cultivate plants for utility or profit in his pleasance. He said that vegetable gardens and orchards were for slaves and merchants” (Nuttall, Z., 1923). Antonio de Solís indicates that Moctezuma “did not like fruit trees nor eatable plants in his recreations, but said that orchards were possessions of ordinary people, seeming more proper of princes the delight without utility. All were flowers of rare diversity and fragrance [...] bringing into his gardens all the genera produced by the benignity of those lands” (Solís, 1970: 195) (Fig. 6B). Bateman, citing Francisco Hernández, indicates the same: “... for Hernández assures us, that in Mexico the Indian chiefs set the highest value on their blossoms [the orchids], for the sake of their great beauty, strange figure, and delightful perfume...” (Bateman, 1837- 43: 2). Stanhopea hernandezii (Kunth) Schltr. and S. tigrina Batem., had great ornamental value during the prehispanic period, and were called by the Aztecs coatzontecoxóchitl or coatzontemacoxóchitl, because their flowers resemble serpent heads: “It is like the head LANKESTERIANA LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. of a serpent; that is the way it is by nature” (Dibble & Anderson, 1963: 211) (Fig. 6C). “[S. hernandezii] is sought by the Indian Princes because of its beauty and elegance.” (Hágsater et al., 2005: 40). “From cozticcoatzontecoxochitl, which some authors have identified as Prosthechea citrina, Hernández tells us that ‘the flowers are used to adorn the wreaths, garlands and bouquets whose use is so frequent among the Indians” (Hágsater et al., 2005: 41). Artorima erubescens, Laelia anceps, L. autumnalis, L. speciosa and Oncidium spp. were also used ornamentally (Tab. 1). In his notes on the classification of plants by the Aztecs, Gates says: “The ornamental plants, the flowers or xochitl, made another grand division, often with definition of the odor, although beauty was the desired feature, even with no odor... Among the orchids, coa-tzonteco-xochitl, snake-head flower, an Anguloa; another is yellow, the coztic-coa-tzontecoxochitl, of the Sobralia” (Gates, 2000). Finally, Acosta writes that “the Indians are great friends of flowers and in New Spain more than anywhere else in the world…” (Acosta, 2003: 265). Two centuries later, Friar Francisco Ximénez was one of the first to describe the epiphytic growth of orchids. In one of his manuscripts, dated in 1722, we find a beautiful example of the ornamental value they had for the Mayans in Guatemala: “All those flowers, although many and diverse, all of them agree to grow from little onions, whose roots stick to the bark of the oaks as if they were deeply rooted in the earth and they grow some leaves somewhat thick, but all different from the others. And those little onions taken from those trees are transplanted by many Indians to their houses, sticking them to another tree and there it roots and is conserved and gives its flower. And so they have the trees of their houses full of different flowers that they bring from the forest” (Ximénez, 1967: 313). The history of Vanilla. As a constituent of the native flora, Vanilla planifolia occurs naturally in the moist, tropical forests of eastern and southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. In Mexico, its northern limits are found in central Veracruz near the Gulf Coast, and in Michoacán or Colima on the Pacific. The true vanilla now found growing wild in parts of the West Indies probably represents an escape from cultivation of vines introduced during the
ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America Table 1 – List of the orchids known by Central American Indians during the prehispanic period, with their uses and vernacular names. Compiled from García Peña & Peña (1981), Wright (1958), Ximénez (1967), Balick et al. (2000), and Appel Kunow (2003). Botanical name Vernacular name Language Use Arpophyllum spicatum La Llave & Lex. tzauhxilotl Nahuatl Against dysentery Artorima erubescens (Lindl.) Dressler & Pollard güitzl Zapotec Ornamental Bletia campanulata La Llave & Lex. tzacuxóchitl xiuitl Nahuatl Adhesive Ornamental Against dysentery Bletia coccinea Lex. tonalxóchitl Nahuatl Adhesive Ornamental Catasetum integerrimum Hook. chitcuuc Maya Adhesive Mordent for pigments Catasetum maculatum Kunth chitcuuc Maya To cure wounds and tumors Cranichis speciosa La Llave & Lex. atzautli Nahuatl Against dysentery Adhesive Mordent for pigments Cranichis tubularis La Llave & Lex. acaltzauhtli Nahuatl Adhesive Mordent for pigments Encyclia pastoris (La Llave & Lex.) Schltr. tzacutli Nahuatl Against dysentery Adhesive Mordent for pigments Euchile citrina (La Llave & Lex.) Withner cozticoatzontecoxóchitl / auroriqua Nahuatl Treatment of infected wounds Govenia liliacea (La Llave & Lex.) Lindl. iztactepetzacuxóchitl Nahuatl Adhesive Mordent for pigments Govenia superba (La Llave & Lex.) Lindl. cozticzacatzacuxóchitl Nahuatl Adhesive Mordent for pigments Laelia anceps Lindl. tzicxóchitl / güichila Nahuatl Ornamental Laelia autumnalis (La Llave & Lex.) Lindl. chichiltictepetzacuxóchitl Nahuatl Against cough Adhesive Ornamental Laelia speciosa (Kunth) Schltr. itzmaqua Nahuatl Ornamental Lockhartia pittieri Schltr. Medicinal Myrmecophila tibicinis (Batem.) Rolfe dac kisin Maya Help during childbirth hom-ikim Maya Employed as trumpets and flutes Oncidium cebolleta (Jacq.) Sw. sulër kili Bribrí Medicinal suLègLi Cabécar Hallucinogenic Oncidium spp. ru xiquín tucur / ru xiquín choy Maya Ornamental Sobralia fragans Lindl. te-lum-pim Maya Medicinal Stanhopea hernandezii (Kunth) Schltr. coatzontecoxóchitl Nahuatl Against tiredness Ornamental Stanhopea tigrina Batem. coatzontemacoxóchitl Nahuatl Ornamental chichiltic tepetllavhochitz Vanilla planifolia Andrews mecaxóchitl Nahuatl Flavoring tlilxóchitl Nahuatl To aid digestion sisbic Maya Cordial zacanatum shanat Totonac Appetizer Aphrodisiac Diuretic Ritual LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009. 17
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