March06_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

Photos - Frames left and right: Early morning at the Central de Abastos market place in Oaxaca City Mexico. Every one here is slowly starting to get their shops opened and the isles aren't crowded with people (and pick pockets) and to me, this is the perfect time of the day for a visit to see the colorful displays and a bit of the shop keeper's life style.

Center frame: Asclepias Curassavica (Mexican Whorled Milkweed) is a common plant found as a border perennial in back yards or a weed in vacant lots. It is versatile, tenacious and colorful when in bloom. Local names: Kittie McWanie, Blood Flower (St. Thomas); Matac (Dominican), Scarlet milkweed, silkweed, Indian root, redhead cotton bush, A slender erect weed,, this plant has bright red orange and yellow flowers borne terminally in cymes. The seed pods (not shown) are narrow and filled with brown seeds which have silky hairs. The stem and flower stalk contain a milky latex. This plant is commonly found in the West Indies, and South America in pastures and neglected gardens from the coast to about 328 meters above sea level. Also found in abundance around the Oaxaca city area in abandoned fields and along canal banks.

This plant is toxic. Small, domestic livestock have died from eating it. The roots have were pounded into a useable extract which could be used to poison fish. In Jamaica, a poultice was used to treat ringworm or stop bleeding. The Caribs considered the root to be good medicine to reduce fevers, and in Africa it has been used for intestinal troubles with children. In Western Canada and USA, similar species of Asclepias have been used to (milky sap) eliminate warts and skin parasites, and the roots used in decoctions for constipation, venereal disease, kidney stones, asthma, and even cancer. In the 1880's, Native Americans used the plant as a contraceptive and snakebite remedy. Asclepias curassavica is employed in the West Indies as an emetic, and goes by the name of Ipecacuanha: the drug known in medicine by that name is derived from quite a different plant and must not be confused with it. The milkweed has a white, poisonous sap from which it gets its name, and can grow to be 2 to 3 1/2 feet. It has big leaves that can grow to be 9 inches -1 foot long. The seeds, which grow in a pod, have a silky tuft of hair which allows them to be blown by the wind like little parachutes.

Photos - Of course the market place is all about people. If you go into the market place during the peak hours the isles are jammed with tourists and locals milling around. I reccoment haveing a look at the early hours of the morning while the shop keepers are oping up the shops, then you can be out of the way by the time the crowds and pickpockets arrive. Frames left and right are shot from the pottery in the western section of the market maze. Center frame is from the southeast corner of the market as I'm on my way out - the parting shot so to speak. Here is a local woman arriving with home made bread and baskets.

Photos - One of the most fastinating things for me to explore in Mexico is the advertisement signs. Each established business will have their own hand-painted sign advertising what is expected inside - very talented sign painters are kept emplyed on a regular basis. These are brush painted or airbrush painted, and have rearely come across a commercial sign printed and mounted on a billboard - they are usually folks like Sol or Coca Cola, companies with a lot of money for advertising. These stores are on Madero street on the way out of the City of Oaxaca.

Click here for more photos of Oaxaca, Mexico for this day.