BOTANICAL MUSEUM LEAFLETS 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 
VoL. 25, No. 7 
AN UNUSUAL SPICE FROM OAXACA: 
THE FLOWERS OF QUARARIBEA FUNEBRIS 
FREDERIC ROSENGARTEN, JR.* 
Most spices are to be found in the seeds, buds, fruits, leaves, 
roots or bark of the spice-producing plant. An extraordinary 
exception to this rule is the small, white flower (Plate 28) of 
Quararibea funebris (La Llave) Vischer, a majestic, evergreen 
tree (Plate 29) of the Bombacaceae (Silk-cotton family), indig- 
enous to southeastern Mexico and Guatemala. The dried flow- 
ers of Q. funebris provide a highly pungent spice, suggestive in 
aroma of Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra Muhl.), Fenugreek (Tri- 
gonella foenumgraecum L.) or curry powder. This strong 
fragrance is found also in the fruits and even in the wood of Q. 
funebris. 
The genus Quararibea includes about twenty-nine species 
(Schultes, 1957), all of which are characterized to a greater or 
lesser degree by this peculiar aroma. The genus is widespread 
in the neotropics, comprising shrubs and trees occurring in 
Middle America, the West Indies and northern South America. 
The odor is so persistent that botanical specimens of Q. fune- 
bris collected in 1841 by Liebmann were highly aromatic when 
examined over a century later (Schultes, 1972). 
For many centuries, the principal use of the spicy white 
flower of Q. funebris has been to add pungency to various 
chocolate-flavored beverages in southeastern Mexico. In Oax- 
aca, the drink is called ‘‘tejate’’; elsewhere it is known as 
‘““*pozonque,” “‘pozonqul,”’ or “‘pozol.’’ Quararibea funebris 
itself has various local names in Mexico: in Oaxaca I found it is 
called ‘‘rosita de cacao,”’ or in the Zapotec tongue “‘yieb-die.”’ 
*Research Fellow in Economic Botany. 
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