Jim Conrad's Naturalist Newsletter

VELVET-LEAF VINE
Yaxunah's street sides are weedier than normal, but it's not the kind of weediness seen closer to big towns and important roads. A lot of the weeds -- sometimes I think most of them -- are useful plants, which Yaxunah's plant-savvy population is too well informed to remove. Such a common weed is the vine shown growing up through the petioles of a Mexican Palmetto (one of the Huano thatch palms, so probably the severed petiole is from someone patching their roof with a frond from this tree) along a street at https://www.backyardnature.net/n/15/150816cs.jpg.

The heart-shaped leaves with several conspicuous veins arising from the blades' bases well could be those of a morning-glory. However, the leaves' covering of dense, soft hairs give a soft, fuzzy feeling, and that's a field mark I don't recall for any morning-glory species. Also, those clusters of pale green items -- looking a little like upside-down pagodas -- aren't found on any kind of morning-glory. A closer look at a cluster is shown at https://www.backyardnature.net/n/15/150816ct.jpg.

You might guess that the dangling clusters are composed of bracts, and normally at the base of such bracts flowers arise. In this vine's case the flowers are tiny, as you can see at https://www.backyardnature.net/n/15/150816cu.jpg.

The arrangement of these flowers was hard to interpret. I couldn't figure out what was going on until the plant was identified and a botanical manual described how the family arranged its flowers. The family is the Moonseed Family, the Menispermaceae, which produces unisexual flowers on separate male and female plants (the plants thus "dioecious"). The tiny flowers in our picture are all female ones, and are arranged in few-flowered clusters at the base of each bract, with each flower normally bearing 3-6 separate pistils.

Therefore, in the above picture, each item that looks like a hairy, pear-shaped ovary with three or so blackish styles is actually a single female flower bearing three or so separate, one-styled pistils crammed so close together that they look like one ovary with three or so styles. A diagram of such a single flower with several pistils -- which will develop into an "aggregate fruit" such as a blackberry -- is shown on our Aggregate Fruit Page at https://www.backyardnature.net/frt_aggr.htm.

So, our fuzzy-feeling vine, which grows from a woody base and reaches 16 feet high (5m), is CISSAMPELOS PAREIRA, sometimes in English known as Velvet-leaf, along with several other unrelated plants also with soft-hairy leaves. In Maya Velvet-leaf Vine is called X-peteltun, and I suspect that one reason it's so commonly occurring along Yaxunah's streets is that it's a well known medicinal plant.

Locally the vine's fresh leaves are boiled in water to brew a tea for treating diarrhea, while dried leaves are boiled to make a tea for stomach ache. Elsewhere in Mexico the plant is used especially for problems of the urinary tract, particularly distention of the bladder, as well as for other ailments such as what used to be known as rheumatism, jaundice, and dropsy.

TWO BROTHERS BUILDING A WALL
Just down the street from Yaxunah Community Center, for several days two men worked building a stone wall. In this area stone walls often separate people's homes from one another, the resulting enclosure normally containing the house and maybe some outbuildings, several trees, and odds and ends such as barrels of rainwater, a chicken roost, a pigpen, and maybe a little garden or at least some sprawling squash vines and pepper bushes. Certainly there are rocks aplenty in this area where at the earth's surface there's about as much exposed limestone bedrock as soil.

In that picture, up front is Don Nicanor, and in the back with the red cap is Don Estanislao. I'd been afraid that they'd be bothered by a nosy gringo interrupting their work, but they seemed pleased with my interest. They're brothers from here in Yaxunah. They don't think of themselves as professional stone-wall builders, but if someone in town wants a substantial stone wall built, and built well, often these two brothers get the job. In the picture, notice that Don Nicanor is hammering a rock on the ground, knocking off edges so it'll fit better in the space under consideration. You can see how rocks in a finished part of the wall fit together at https://www.backyardnature.net/n/15/150816wm.jpg.

In this area I think it must be especially hard to build good rock walls because the limestone bedrock is hard and massive. It's not noticeably layered and natural fractures don't extend very far, so you can't pry apart layers or work a chisel into a fracture to extend it. Sledgehammers just bounce off, scattering a little powder or knocking off small chips.

AMPHIBIANS & REPTILES OF CENTRAL YUCATÁN STATE
Fifteen years after its year-2000 publication date, I've finally gained access to Julian C. Lee's wonderful A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maya World/ The Lowlands of Mexico, Northern Guatemala, and Belize, published by Cornell University Press. I'm still digesting the book's contents, and have made certain updates on my web pages dealing with Yucatan herps -- "herps" being the collective term for amphibians and reptiles.

Meanwhile, using Lee's species distribution maps, I've begun focusing on herps around Yaxunah -- and therefore the Chichén Itzá area and central Yucatán State in general -- by compiling a list of species possibly found here. In the following list, names preceded by a "?" indicate that in our area the species is at the edge of its distribution area, or just beyond, so its presence here might be questionable.

SALAMANDERS

LUNGLESS SALAMANDER FAMILY, the Plethodontidae Yucatan

Mushroomtongue Salamander, Bolitoglossa yucatana

TOADS & FROGS

BURROWING TOAD FAMILY, the Rhinophrynidae

Burrowing Toad, Rhinophrynus dorsalis

ROBBER FROG FAMILY, the Leptodactylidae

? Yucatan Rainfrog, Eleutherodactylus yucatanensis
White-lipped Frog, Leptodactylus labialis
Sabinal Frog, Leptodactylus melanonotus

TOAD FAMILY, the Bufonidae

Cane Toad, Bufo marinus Gulf Coast Toad, Bufo valliceps

TREE FROG FAMILY, the Hylidae

? Red-eyed Treefrog, Agalychnis callidryas
? Mahogany Treefrog, Hyla loquax
Yellow Treefrog, Hyla microcephala
? Painted Treefrog, Hyla picta
Veined Treefrog, Phrynohyas venulosa
Stauffer's Treefrog, Scinax staufferi
Common Mexican Treefrog, Smilisca baudinii
Yucatecan Casquehead Treefrog, Triprion petasatus

NARROWMOUTH TOAD FAMILY, the Microhylidae

Sheep Frog, Hypopachus variolosus

TRUE FROG FAMILY, the Ranidae

Rio Grande Leopard Frog, Rana berlandieri

TURTLES

MUD & MUSK TURTLE FAMILY, the Kinosternidae

Creaser's Mud Turtle, Kinosternon creaseri
Scorpion Mud Turtle, Kinosternon scorpioides

BOX TURTLE FAMILY, the Emydidae

Furrowed Wood Turtle, Rhinoclemmys areolata
Yucatan Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina
Slider, Trachemys scripta

LIZARDS

BANDED GECKO FAMILY, the Gekkonidae

Yucatan Banded Gecko, Coleonyx elegans
House Gecko, Hemidactylus frenatus
Mediterranean Gecko, Hemidactylus turcicus

BASILISK FAMILY, the Corytophanidae

Brown Basilisk, Basiliscus vittatus
Serrated Casquehead Iguana, Laemanctus serratus

IGUANA FAMILY, the Iguanidae

Yucatan Spinytail Iguana, Ctenosaura defensor
Black Iguana, Ctenosaura similis

SPINY LIZARD FAMILY, the Phrynosomatidae

Yucatan Spiny Lizard, Seeloporus chrysostictus
Lundell's Spiny Lizard, Seeloporus lundelli
Blue-spotted Spiny Lizard, Seeloporus serrifer

ANOLE FAMILY, the Polychrotidae

? Ghost Anole, Norops lemurinus
Smooth Anole, Norops rodriguezii
Brown Anole, Norops sagrei
Silky Anole, Norops sericeus
? Greater Scaly Anole, Norops tropidonotus

SKINK FAMILY, the Scincidae

Schwartze's Skink, Eumeces schwartzei
? Central American Mabuya, Mabuya unimarginata
? Brown Forest Skink, Sphenomorphus cherriei

RACERUNNER FAMILY, the Teiidae

Rainbow Ameiva, Ameiva undulata
Yucatan Whiptail, Cnemidophorus angusticeps

SNAKES

BLIND SNAKE FAMILY, the Typhlopidae

Yucatan Blind Snake, Typhlops microstomus
Black Blind Snake, Leptotyphlops goudotii

BOA FAMILY, the Boidae

Boa Constrictor, Boa constrictor

COLUBRID SNAKE FAMILY, the Colubridae

Peninsular Stripeless Snake, Coniophanes meridanus
Black-striped Snake, Coniophanes imperialis
Schmidt's Black-striped Snake, Coniophanes schmidti
Road Guarder, Conophis lineatus
Snail-eating Thirst Snake, Dipsas brevifacies
Lizard Eater, Dryadophis melanolomus
Indigo Snake, Drymarchon corais
Speckled Racer, Drymobius margaritiferus
Tropical Rat Snake, Elaphe flavirufa
Blotched Hooknose Snake, Ficimia publia
Central American Tree Snake, Imantodes gemmistratus
Yucatan Blunthead Snake, Imantodes tenuissimus
Milk Snake, Lampropeltis triangulum
Rain Forest Cat-eyed Snake, Leptodeira frenata
? Northern Cat-eyed Snake, Leptodeira septentrionalis
Mexican Parrot Snake, Leptophis mexicanus
Neotropical Whipsnake, Masticophis mentovvarius
Redback Coffee Snake, Ninia sebae
Mexican Vine Snake, Oxybelis aeneus
Green Vine Snake, Oxybelis fulgidus
? Puffing Snake, Pseustes poecilonotus
? Guatemalan Neckband Snake, Scaphiodontophis annulatus
Peninsular Rat Snake, Senticolis triaspis
Banded Snail Sucker, Sibon Fasciata
? Cloudy Snail Sucker, Sibon nebulata
Pygmy Snail Sucker, Sibon sanniola
Terrestrial Snail Sucker, Sibon sartorii
Tiger Tree Snake, Spilotes pullatus
Freminville's Scorpion-eating Snake, Stenorrina freminville
Yucatan White-lipped Snake, Symphimus mayae
Yucatan Centipede Snake, Tantilla cuniculator
Blackbelly Centipede Snake, Tantilla moesta
Yucatan Dwarf Short-tailed Snake, Tantilla canula
? Western Ribbon Snake, Thamnophis proximus
? False Coral Snake, Urotheca elapoides

CORAL SNAKE FAMILY, the Elaphidae

Variable Coral Snake, Micrurus diastema

VIPER FAMILY, the Viperidae

Cantil, Agkistrodon bilineatus
? Barba Amarilla/Fer de lance/Terciopelo, Bothrops asper
Neotropical Rattlesnake, Crotalis durissus
Yucatan Hognose Pitviper, Porthidium yucatanicum

A PUFF OF COLD AIR
I was helping a local Maya man build a step at Yaxunah Community Center when he asked to borrow some money. He said he hadn't been able to work lately and had fallen behind with his bills.

"I was cleaning a temple at the ruin," he said, referring to Yaxanah Ruins just north of town. "I was assigned the lower level, so I was down low digging around when suddenly a puff of cold air swept over my arms. My hands and arms became so cold I couldn't move them, and my feet, too. I couldn't work then, and as the days passed the problem continued."

He related all this with an expression indicating awe, confusion and helplessness.

"Finally I had blood work done, but it came back just perfect, no problem there, no cholesterol, no anything. Then my wife said I needed to visit the curandero, the local healer. The curandero told me it'd happened because before we began the cleaning operation we hadn't conducted the proper ceremonies asking permission to work there. And I'd had the luck to be assigned the lower level, where the ancients had made their sacrifices, and that's why I was affected and not the others."

The man paused awhile, maybe visualizing the cold puff of air issuing from some kind of spell put in place centuries ago by his ancestors, a spell that all those years lay dormant in the soil at the temple's lower level, just waiting for him to come along with his usual bad luck.

"But we'd already made the mistake and that couldn't be undone, and I had these cold, numb hands that couldn't work. Eventually I brought my problem before my fellow church members and they prayed. Then the problem began going away, and now here I am working again."

I gave the man 50 pesos -- not as a loan, but rather as advance payment for a week's supply of tortillas to be patted out by his wife each day atop the family's comal, the tortillas made from corn from the man's own cornfield.

STILL WITHOUT INTERNET
During these first weeks of living at Yaxunah our Internet is down. I continue writing Newsletters, but have no way to upload them to my website, short of taking a taxi or walking to Pisté 20kms to the north, since there's no bus service here.