VERNACULAR NAMES IN OAXACA! 
Chinantee: guh-to-oh 
Spanish: c/avel; ishte; iste; ixtle; pita; pitaflaja; vitaya 
Zapotec: la-ga-ge-chi; ye-tsi-ro-tee 
Aechmea magdalenae occurs in forested areas in south- 
eastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Costa 
Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. The type was 
collected in Colombia. 
This large terrestrial species resembles the pineapple in 
many respects, and consists of a rosette of leaves and a 
stalked inflorescence. The leaves which are frequently six 
feet long (they have been reported as long as ten feet) 
are narrow, linear, very flexible and armed along the 
margins with prominent, recurved teeth. The red inflor- 
escences are large and capitate; the fruits are enlarged 
and juicy. The plants tend to form extensive and im- 
penetrable thickets on the forest floor. These thickets are 
so characteristic an ecological formation in some parts 
of Central America that they have been called pitales from 
the vernacular name of the plant. In the Districts of 
Villa Alta and Choapam—the Chinantla of Oaxaca—the 
northeastern limits of its range, Aechmea magdalenae 
is very abundant at altitudes of between 450 and 650 
meters. 
Aechmea magdalenae is the basis of the pita industry 
of the Chinantee Indians of the Chinantla. The extrac- 
tion of the fibre was practised by the Chinantecs even in 
pre-hispanic times. The Pelactén de Chinantla’, which 
was written in Chinantla in 1579, and which has recently 
been translated (Bevan, B. ‘The Chinantec: Report on 
the central and southeastern Chinantee region. Vol. 1— 
The Chinantece and their habitat’’ in Inst. Panam. Geogr. 
'D)’Esquibel, Diego ‘‘Relacién de Chinantla’’ 1579; published in Pap. 
Nueva Espafia 4 (1905). 
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