CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 149 
hoja de bijao (C. macrosepala) and hoja de sal** (C. lutea). 
Both have the broad leaf characteristic of so many of the 
Marantaceae, the former (maxdn) being somewhat smaller, 
2 or 3 feet long instead of 4 or 5. The leaf is green on both 
sides, whereas hoja de sal has a chalky underleaf. Both ap- 
parently grow to elevations of about 1,000 m., the latter not 
so well adapted to a shady habitat as hoja maxdn. (This 
point is mentioned by Standley and Calderén, 1925, p. 56, 
and by Standley, 1931, p. 143, and pl. 25.) In the Guatemala 
Lowlands I have heard them referred to as the “one growing 
in the shade” and the “one growing in the sun.” It is prob- 
ably for this reason that hoja maxdn grows more abundantly 
in the forested boca costa, and hoja de sal more in the open 
park-savanna of the Lowlands, especially in marshy habitats. 
The chief source of supply of hoja maxdn to Highland mar- 
kets is Pueblo Nuevo, where it is a major product, ranking 
perhaps next to coffee. Almolonga and Zunil merchants, on 
their return trips from Lowland markets, chief of which is 
Mazatenango, where they go to sell mostly garden vegetables, 
load up with these broad leaves for resale in the Highlands, 
especially at Quezaltenango. They are used for wrapping 
bulk foods bought in the plaza“ such as meat, lard, flour, 
salt, and sugar, and constitute an important addition to the 
Lowland cargo. The latter consists: usually of salt, coffee, 
rice, tropical fruit, and panela, which are loaded into rented 
trucks, about 8 of them a week ordinarily, and 15 for fiestas. 
Palmar is also an important center of production of hoja 
maxdn, for sale in quantity at Quezaltenango and San Felipe. 
At Palmar, Pueblo Nuevo, San Pablo Jocopilas, and other 
towns, I was told that both hoja de sal and maxdn are fre- 
quently planted, sometimes as a major “crop,” being much in 
demand, but this could not be verified; they grow wild in 
considerable profusion. 
246 Standley (1931, p. 143) reports that Calathea macrosepala is called 
hoja de sal in Guatemala, but in the coastal sections visited by me that 
term was applied only to C. lutea. The terminology is complex, how- 
ever, for in the outer Lowlands (below 500 m.; San Bernardino, e.g.) 
C. lutea is called hoja maxdén as well as hoja de sal; perhaps since it 
so greatly predominates here in the park-savanna. Higher up, they are 
distinguished. Since salt and foodstuffs are more often wrapped in 
C. macrosepala than in C. lutea, it is more reasonable that the former 
be called hoja de sal, but such seems not to be the case in Southwest 
Guatemala. 
247 Hoja de sal is sometimes used also for wrappings, especially salt; 
it is from that use that its common name is said to be derived. For 
wrapping food, maxdn is preferred, as it seems to be tougher, and 
does not get the bad odor of hoja de sal when old, according to reports. 
Both are used for roof thatch, but hoja de sal somewhat more, appar- 
ently, and at lower elevations (see map 14 and pl. 3, a, 6, c). Standley 
states (1931, p. 143) that C. lutea (called hoja de sal in Salvador) is 
used for wrapping food and for “temporary thatching.” 
The many early uses of “bihao,”’ which may have been Calathea, are 
listed in elaborate detail by Oviedo (1851, vol. 1, pp. 276-277); they 
include food, thatch, raincapes, fine, beautifully woven, rainproof bas- 
kets, including one made especially for clothing, and one for salt. 
MINOR PLANTS 
Cojon (Stemmadenia sp.) provides a latex of which a gum 
(kach) is said to be prepared, and bought on a large scale by 
Chichicastenango merchants passing through San Pablo 
Jocopilas. 
Old World rosa de jamaica, or simply jamaica (Jamaica 
sorrel or roselle, Hibiscus sabdariffa), is noted for its red 
calyxés, which are sold in Highland markets during and after 
fiestas. The acid febrifuge prepared from them is prized, 
I was told in Solola, as a remedy for the after-effects of al- 
cohol. Standley (1920-26, p. 779) and Bukasov (1930, p. 351, 
English summary, p. 534) mention the drink as used in Mex- © 
ico, with no reference, however, to the “hangover” remedy. 
Conspicuous throughout the Lowlands is the giant ceiba, 
or silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentadra, which grows to 1,500 m. 
elevation), important as a preferred market shade tree since 
ancient times (pl. 5, a). One in the plaza at Palin is 
especially famous. The “almendro” (Termuinalia catappa) 
is sometimes planted for market shade, as at Chicacao; it is 
low-growing and flat-topped, having the appearance of a 
large parasol. White-trunked, slender guarumo trees (Ce- 
cropia mexicana) are widely used for house walls, 
the hollow trunk being split (see map 14 and pl. 2, 
b, g). The prized jaboncillo, or soapberry tree (Sapindus 
saponaria) produces berries which are much employed for 
washing clothes, but only by the poorer people, I was told.*” 
A widely used fiber, finer and perhaps more durable than 
agave, is derived throughout the piedmont from the pita floja 
(“silk-grass,” Aechmea magdalenae)2” In San Sebastian 
Retalhuleu, strips of corozo palm tree leaves used in 
suyacales are sewn together with thread made of pita floja 
fiber. In certain sections, as Santo Domingo Suchitepequez, 
the thread is fashioned into fish nets and cordage of various 
sorts. 
Pokeweed (Phytolacca rugosa) called sacachidn (San Juan 
Ostuncalco) and ftzichipak, literally “dog soap” (Momos- 
tenango), is widely sold (entire clusters of purplish berries) 
in Highland markets as soap. It is considered especially 
good for washing blue skirts, to keep the color strong. It 
grows both in Lowlands and Highlands. 
Escobilla (Sida rhombifolia) is used in the Lowlands for 
making fish nets of the fine bark fiber. 
248 Mentioned as a market shade tree by Oviedo, 1851-55, vol. 1, p. 
345. 
9 This tree is probably the one mentioned by Bukasov under the 
name amolillo, which he said was an “unknown plant,” the seeds of 
which ‘fare used as may be gathered from its Spanish name, as a sub- 
stitute for soap” (Bukasov, 1930, p. 485). 
259 Called by Standley ‘‘one of the best fibers known” (1936, p. 90; 
cf. also Standley, 1930, p. 220; 1931, p. 126). 
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