References to the use of Quararibea funebris as a spice 
for chocolate amongst the Aztecs are apparently unavail- 
able, although the Sahagun reference might seem in- 
directly to indicate that the flowers were put to this use. 
It is indeed singular that reports are lacking for the Aztec 
region, because the Aztecs, whose nobility is stated to 
have consumed much chocolate, imported many plants 
and plant products from southern tributaries. Further- 
more, numerous references attest to the fact that the 
Aztecs were accustomed to flavor chocolate drinks with 
flowers, seeds, and other plant parts. 
Quararibea Field, like Q. funebris, is utilized as a 
spice for chocolate. It isa tree of the Mayan region and 
has been used by the Mayas from very early times. 
In the Diccionario de Motul of the 16th Century (Dic- 
cionario de Motul, mss., 16th Century. Quoted in Roys: 
Ethnobotany of the Maya, Mid. Am. Research Ser. Publ. 
2 (1981) 268), the use of Quararibea Fieldii flowers is 
mentioned. A translation of this early report follows: 
Maha: a certain tree with odorous flowers which they throw into 
chocolate, and the flowers themselves. 
The earliest modern report relative to the utilization 
of Quararibea Fieldi as a spice is to be found in the 
original description of the plant. Millspaugh stated that 
the ‘‘flowers are used to flavor chocolate’’ (Field Col. 
Mus. Bot. 1, i (1897) 309). 
Other than these few botanical reports and the refer- 
ences from the Diccionario de Motul, 1 have been unable 
to find published indications concerning the extent of the 
use of the spice in the Mayan area. Lundell (in Pap. 
Michigan Acad. Sci., Arts Letters 24 (1989) 56), who 
has carried on botanical and ethnobotanical work in the 
Yucatan peninsula and adjacent regions, fails to mention 
the use of Quararibea Fieldii as a spice but notes its use 
[ 262 ] 
