Acrocomia and Chamaedorea

Chromolithograph, von Martius (1823-37)

This is one of the most beautiful illustrations by the naturalist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, published in “Historia Naturalis Palmarum” (volume 3, table 138). The plate shows a group of Mayan indigenous people skinning a jaguar under a cocoyol tree, Acrocomia aculeata, in the Atlantic rainforests of southern Mexico. On the left, you can see another palm tree, the tepejilote cuiliote or Chamaedorea oblongata, a species discovered and described by von Martius himself during his expedition through Central America.