Plants of Tenochtitlán
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Plants of Tenochtitlán
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The illustrated map of Tenochtitlán, 1521 demonstrates the diverse ecosystem surrounding the magnificent city. Individually identifiable are several types of plants common to the area, and which held utility and meaning to the Nahuatl people. The map of Tenochtitlán depicts two plants significant to the Nahuatl people: Nopalli and Agave. The illustration includes depictions of the cactus referred to today as the Prickly-Pear Cactus but was known to the Nahuatl as Nopal, collectively Nopalli. This cactus grew ubiquitously in the Valley of Mexico. The work of Fray Bernardino de Sahagún accounts thirteen species of Nopalli and their multitude of purposes. Nopalli were used for food and drink and often given as medicine to pregnant women. Additionally, the agave plant held significance to the people of Tenochtitlán. The maguey plant, a particular species of agave, was used in the preparation of pulque and the treatment of syphilis. Francisco Xavier de Balmis, a Spanish surgeon, combined his European practices with those of the indigenous to find treatments for venereal diseases. De Balmis brought agave to Europe to continue his research for publication in Spain. The tests were inconclusive, but the search for venereal disease treatments promoted the publication of his findings in multiple languages regardless. His work described the medicinal, practical, and spiritual uses for agave in the new world. The blue agave is the more infamous species of agave due to its role in the cultivation of tequila, which dates from the sixteenth century when Spaniards began using distilled blue agave to supplement their supply of brandy.
Balmis, Francisco Xavier de. Agave y Begonia. Madrid: Widow of Joaquin Ibarra, 1794. Calnek, Edward E. "Settlement Pattern and Chinampa Agriculture at Tenochtitlan." In American Antiquity Vol. 37, no. 1. (Cambridge University Press: January 1972) 104-15. Cartwright, Mark. Aztec Food & Agriculture. June 29, 2014. McGarry, Renee. The Magical and the Everyday, or How the Aztecs Represented Plants. (The New York Public Library: 2019) Mclean, Edward. Sacred Seeds: New World Plants in Early Modern English Literature. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press. 2019. Mursell, Ian. Aztec Pleasure Gardens. Mexicolore: 4 April 2010 Sahagún, Bernardino De. Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, Book 11. Translated by Charles E. Dibble and Arthur J. O. Anderson. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research, the Univ. of Utah, The Museum of New Mexico, 1982.
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Items with "Relation: Plants of Tenochtitlán"
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 Ágave y Begonia |
Still Image
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