Chinantla proved to be exceedingly rich in new and rare 
plants, many of which have never been collected again. 
Some of these collections represent local endemices which 
have never been collected elsewhere, while others have 
since been found to be widespread tropical American 
species. 
A large number of species have been based on types 
from the Chinantla. Some of these plants bear as a spe- 
cific epithet an adjectival form of Chinantla (e.g. Des- 
moneus chinantlensis Liebm. ex Mart. and Clidemia 
chinantlana (Naud.) Triana). A few species which were 
first collected in the Chinantla have since become im- 
portant economic or horticultural plants (e.g. Monstera 
deliciosa Liebm.). 
The majority of these early collections are preserved 
in European herbaria, although duplicates of some of 
them are in American institutions, especially in the Gray 
Herbarium, the Herbarium of the Field Museum of 
Natural History, and the United States National Her- 
barium. With the growing interest among American 
botanists in the flora of Central America, it is becoming 
increasingly evident that these early collections from 
northeastern Oaxaca (including those from the Chinant- 
la) must be consulted. Since the historical material in 
Kuropean herbaria is periodically unavailable to Ameri- 
can students, it is desirable that the localities of the early 
collectors be revisited and that topotypical material be 
collected. 
Recently, in a number of floristic and monographic 
publications, critical specimens from Oaxaca labelled 
*‘Chinantla’’ have been erroneously assigned to other 
parts of Mexico. For example, very frequently botanists 
allocate such specimens to the State of Puebla instead 
of to the State of Oaxaca. The reason for this error is 
probably due to the fact that the term Chinantla is not 
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