52 



The Journal of Heredity 



occurs in cool regions, such as that of 

 the Valley of Mexico, and it grows in 

 this city of Lima (Peru), where it was 

 brought, a few years ago, from New 

 Spain (Mexico)." The historian Gon- 

 zales Suarez asserts (though without 

 saying upon what grounds) that the 

 plant was worshipped by the inhabi- 

 tants of Canar province, in southern 

 Ecuador, before the arrival of the 

 Spaniards. Modern authors usually 

 base their belief in the indigenous 

 character of this species throughout the 

 Andean region upon the fact that it 

 occurs there, at the present day, in a 

 thoroughly naturalized condition. 



At the time of the Conquest, the 

 capulin was an important fruit-tree in 

 central Mexico. It appears at least 

 twice in the picture-writings which 

 record the names and tribute required 

 of towns conquered by the Aztec 

 nation. From this and other evidence 

 there can be no doubt that the name 

 capulin (modified to capuli in South 

 America), by which the tree is today 

 known from Mexico to Peru, is of 

 Mexican origin. Various derivatives 

 of the word are found in dictionaries 

 of the Nahuatl or Aztec language: 

 Molina^ gives capulla and capitl- 

 quauhtla {capulin plus qiimihtla, grove) 

 as terms used to express a capulin 

 orchard or grove; capiilqiiaiiitl {capulin 

 plus quauitl, tree), a capulin tree; and 

 capuloctli {capulin plus octli, wine), 

 a species of wine made from the fruit. 



Probal)ly the earliest detailed ac- 

 count of the capulin is that written by 

 Francisco Hernandez, protomedico of the 

 King of Spain, who was sent to Mexico 

 to make a study of the useful and 

 medicinal plants of that country. He 

 devoted five years to the task, which 

 was completed in 1575, and then 

 returned to Spain, taking with him 

 extensive manuscripts, of which copies 

 were left in Mexico. The friar Fran- 

 cisco Ximenez published, in 1615, an 

 annotated translation of these (the 

 Latin original of Hernandez was not 

 published imtil 1651), from which we 



reproduce below, in English, the chap- 

 ter on the capulin. We have attempted 

 to preserve the picturesque phraseology 

 of the period in which the account was 

 written, including the reference to the 

 "hot" and "dry" nature of the fruit, — 

 terms which were believed to indicate 

 the effect which the substance under 

 consideration had upon the human 

 body, if consumed in quantity, and 

 which were proper to the classification 

 of drugs and foodstuffs used at that 

 time by the Spaniards: 



Chapter LXXI. Concerning the tree 

 called Capul'n, which bears the cherries of the 

 Indies. 



The capulin is a tree of moderate size, which 

 has leaves like our almond or cherry, finely 

 serrate, and pendent racemes of flowers, which 

 develop into fruits altogether like our cherries 

 in size, color, form, and in the seeds or stones, 

 and which taste somewhat like blackberries, 

 for which reason I think this tree must be 

 classified among the species of cherries not 

 known in the Old World, although some 

 people think that it may be considered a kind 

 of Metzi;^ the fruit is a trifle acid and astrin- 

 gent, although when fully ripe it becomes sweet 

 and loses much of its sourness and austerity 

 and is pleasant to the taste, so much so, in 

 fact, that many people who are competent to 

 voice an opinion in such matters consider it by 

 no means inferior to our cherries; it is hot and 

 moderately dry in nature, with some astrin- 

 gency; they make of this fruit bread and wine, 

 when there is lack of these substances, but it is 

 melancholy nourishment, and in certain 

 manner injurious to the heart; it imparts a 

 bad color^ to the teeth of those who eat it often, 

 but this is easily avoided if a little care is 

 given to cleaning the teeth; finally, there is no 

 lack of persons who esteem this fruit above all 

 others which ripen in the simimer time, — 

 milady epicure, though not usually satisfied 

 with any but the fruits of Spain, sometimes 

 chooses it in preference to the latter. It 

 flowers in springtime, and yields ripe fruit . 

 almost throughout the summer; it grows in 

 cool climates like that of Mexico City, where it 

 is found in orchards and fields, and is some- 

 times given cultural attention, sometimes not. 

 An infusion of the bark, left to stand in the 

 sun for fifteen days, and taken in doses of one 

 ounce, cures dysentery; reduced to powder, 

 the bark removes films from the eyes and 

 clarifies the vision; it cures inflammations, and 

 softens and moistens the tongue when it is dry 

 from fever, which latter efTect is secured also 

 by using the juice ol the young shoots. 



The capulin does not grow upon the 

 coastal lowlands of Mexico, since it 



' Vocabulario de la Lengua Mexicana, 1571 (Facsimile edition, published at Leipzig, 1880). 



- Ziziphiis lotus Lamk. 



^ The Latin original of Hernandez says "black color." 



