Izquixochitl-Flavoring for cacao drink

I am working on a long range project to identify and then find all plants
used by the Aztec or Maya to flavor their cacao. I have found about 33% of
the plants. Some, like achiote, are easy to locate since they are widely
used to flavor cacao still today.
Bourreria huanita is one of the flavorings for cacao among the Aztec.
Since this tree is found in the Highlands of Guatemala, we estimate
that the Maya may also have used this flower as a spice.
In English it is called popcorn flower
Popped-maize flower; used to perfume cacao (S. Coe 1994). Perhaps the
Aztec had a different kind of popped maize, but to me the flower of this tree
never reminds me of popped anything. Perhaps I have to see the dried
flower in the market? I have seen only the bright fresh white flower on the
tree.
esquischil, Bourreria huanita (Llave & Lex.), popcorn flower Izquixochitl
in Nahuatl of Central Mexico, family: Boraginaceae.
Ik'al te' black tree, Tzotzil Mayan language (Breedlove and Laughlin
1993:143)
Muk'ta ch'it (Breedlove and Laughlin 1993: 156).
Bourreria huanita is also medicinal
Most of the plants used to flavor cacao had other uses: three of the
flavorings were used as soap!. Most of the flowers and bark used to flavor
cacao was also medicinal.
The bark of Bourreria huanita is used as an antiperiodic and astringent in
the state of Michoacan, Mexico.
www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/journals/ajp1885/12-mex-mat-med.html
Although best known for Antigua Guatemala, the tree is also Mexican
Fray Diego de Duran lists izquixochitl as a tree so important to the Aztecs
that the emperor had them brought to the Highlands for the imperial
garden.
Where to find esquischil, Bourreria huanita?

Although Bourreria huanita is best known for Antigua Guatemala, it is also

found elsewhere throughout Guatemala.
Alta Verapaz
El Quiche
Izabal
Jutiapa
Quetzaltenango
Sacatepequez
Guatemala
This list is from Trees of Guatemala (Parker 2008:107), which in turn is
copied from standard monographs on the botany of Guatemala, by
Standley and his team.
In Antigua you can see esquischil, Bourreria huanita in the garden of the
El Calvario church. But there are other trees in other parks of Antigua as
well, plus in nearby towns (almost always near a church).
In Copan pollen of Bourreria huanita was found associated with the Classic
period Maya. It will be helpful to learn whether Bourreria huanita was
common at the altitude of Copan, which is much lower than the altitude of
Antigua Guatemala. But it is well documented that the Aztec emperor had
trees brought to his capital which were from other eco-systems. And cacao
blooms and fruits in the village museum of Copan (as it does in the FLAAR
ethnobotany garden at 1500 meters above sea level).
Introductory bibliography on Bourreria huanita, esquischil

DURAN, DIEGO (DORIS HEYDEN, editor)

1994 The History of the Indies of New Spain. University of Oklahoma

Press. 642 pages.

CAMPOS-RIOS, MARIA GORETI

2000 Revisin Taxonmica del Gnero Bourreria P. Browne

(Boraginaceae) en Mxico. Thesis, Doctorado en Ciencias. Facultad de Ciencias,
UNAM.

CAMPOS-RIOS, MARIA GORETI

2005 Revisin del gnero Bourreria P. Browne (Boraginaceae) en

Mxico. Polibotanica 19. 39-103.

FLORES A., ROBERTO ENRIQUE

1991 Estudio reproductivo y etnobotnico de esquisuchil (Bourreria

huanita Llave & Lex) Hemsl. Boraginaceae en la Antigua Guatemala, y pueblos
aledaos.
First posted March 11, 2013.