234 proceedings: biological society 



the deer, this being the most southerly record ever made for this animal 

 and being hundreds of miles south of its present range. 



The second communication was by W. E. Safford on Cijmbo'petalum 

 penduliflorum, the ear-flower of the Aztecs. Among the plants brought 

 from a distance to be planted in the gardens of the Aztec emperor was 

 the xochinacaztli, or ear-flower, the aromatic, ear-shaped petals of which 

 were used for flavoring chocolate. The botanical identity of this plant 

 has remained unknown until recently, when it was established by the 

 author of the present paper. 1 An account of it was first written about 

 1569 by Padre Bernardino de Sahagun, who called it teunacaztli, "the 

 sacred ear, " and said that it was much used for its fragrant odor and 

 for drinking, ground up with chocolate. Dr. Francisco Hernandez, sent 

 by Philip II, in 1570, to study the resources of New Spain described 

 it under the heading "De Xochinacazli, seu Flore auriculae. " The de- 

 scription, in Latin, together with an imperfect and rude figure, was 

 published in 1651, in the Roman edition of his work, prepared by Antonio 

 Recchi; but a translation of this work into Spanish, by Fray Francisco 

 Ximenez, without illustrations, had already appeared in the City of 

 Mexico in 1615. 



The tree is described as bearing long narrow leaves of a deep green 

 color. The flowers, borne on a pendent peduncle, have petals purplish 

 within and greenish without, shaped almost exactly like ears and having 

 a very agreeable odor. It is a native of the tierra caliente, and in the 

 tiangues and markets of the Indians there is nothing else more frequently 

 found nor more highly prized than this flower, "the which is wont to 

 give the greatest charm and taste, together with a very fragrant odor 

 and flavor to that celebrated drink cacao, which they call chocolate, 

 and it imparts to it certain tonic properties and wholesomeness as well. 

 It is said that when drunk in water this flower dispels flatulency, causes 

 phlegm to become thin, warms and comforts the stomach which has 

 been chilled or weakened, as well as the heart; and that it is efficacious 

 in asthma, ground to a powder with addition of two pods of the large 

 red peppers called texochilli, with their seeds removed and toasted on 

 a comal, which is a kind of griddle on which the natives toast and make 

 their bread called by us tortillas, adding to the same three drops of balsam 

 and taking it in some suitable liquor." 



Since the time of Hernandez many works have appeared in which the 

 economic plants of the Aztecs are discussed, including the recent Notes 

 sur la medecine et la botanique des anc'ens Mexicains, by the Rev. A. 

 Gerste, of the Society of Jesus, Rome, 1910. In none of these is the 

 botanical identity of the xochinacaztli hinted at, though it is invariably 

 mentioned. 



The author of the pre-ent paper while working on the botany of the 

 Annonaceae, came across a photograph of annonaceous flowers, with 

 ear-like petals, in the files of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 2 These 



1 See Science, 33: 470, March 24, 1911 



2 See Smithsonian Report for 1910, p. 428. 1911 



