SACRED EAR-FLOWER OF AZTECS SAFFORD. 429 



ear," and states that it was much used for the sake of its fragrant 

 odor and for drinking, ground up with chocolate. 



Francisco Hernandez, the " protomedico," sent by Philip II, in 

 1570, to Mexico to study its resources, has given a fair illustration of 

 the flower (fig. 1), and describes it under the heading " De Xochin>- 

 caztli, seu Flore auricula?." This description, in Latin, together with 

 the figure, was published in the Roman edition of his work in 1651. 

 The same description, but without the illustration, appeared before 

 this in the Spanish edition of Hernandez, published by Ximenez in 

 the City of Mexico in 1615. It is as follows: 



The xochinacaztli is a rare tree, with leaves long and narrow and of a deep 

 green color. Its flowers, borne on a pendent velvety peduncle, are divided into 

 leaves, which are purplish within and herbaceous without, shaped almost ex- 

 actly like ears, and of a very agreeable odor. It grows in warm countries, and 

 there is nothing else in the tiangucs and markets of the Indians more fre- 

 quently found nor more highly prized than this flower. The which is wont to 

 give the greatest charm and taste, together with a very fragrant odor and 

 flavor to that celebrated drink cacao, which they call chocolate, and it imparts 

 to it certain tonic properties and wholesomeness as well. It is said that when 

 drunk in water this flower dispels flatulency, causes phlegm to become thin, 

 warms and comforts the stomach which has been chilled or weakened, as well 

 as the heart ; and that it is efficacious in asthma, ground to a powder with the 

 addition of two pods of the large red peppers called tcxochilli, with their seeds 

 removed and toasted on a comal which is a kind of griddle on which the natives 

 toast and make their bread, called by us tortillas, adding to the same three 

 drops of balsam and taking it in some suitable liquor. 



Since the time of Hernandez many works have appeared in which 

 the economic plants of the Aztecs are discussed, 1 but in none of 

 them is the botanical identity of the xochhiacaztli hinted at, though 

 it is invariably mentioned. That it was to be found in the forests 

 of the Tierra-caliente the author of the present paper felt confi- 

 dent, and he read with interest the accounts of all travelers in 

 southern Mexico and Guatemala who spoke of the delicious flavor 

 of chocolate prepared with the flowers of the Ovejuela. His dis- 

 covery of the identity of the flower was almost an accident. While 

 working upon the plants belonging to theAnonacese, or Custard-apple 

 f amity, of Mexico, he came across a photograph in the files of the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture, showing a 

 number of flowers with their inner petals very much like the human 

 ear in shape. This photograph had been taken by Mr. C. B. Doyle in 

 1904 while accompanying Mr. O. F. Cook on a mission of agricul- 

 tural exploration in Guatemala. The flowers were found in the 

 market of the town of Coban, in the department of Alta Verapaz. 

 The photograph is here presented (pi. 1). It was not accom- 



ir The last of these is the work of the Rev. A. Gerste, S. J., published in the Vatican, 

 at Rome, in 1910, entitled " Notes sur la medecine et la botanique des anciens Mexi- 

 cains." 



