Indigenous Plants

INDIGENOUS PLANTS

Originally written during the colonial period (1521-1821) of Central Mexico, the pages within the Codex Cruz-Badianus illustrate and describe hundreds of plants indigenous to central Mexico. The manuscript was first written in Nahuatl by Martin de la Cruz, and then translated into Latin by Juan Badiano for King Carlos I of Spain in 1552. The copy on view is a reproduction of the original, which in 1990 was repatriated from the Vatican Library to the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. 

Each plant is illustrated in an abbreviated style, with cursory attention to botanical detail; characteristics such as serrated or smooth leaves are indistinguishable, for example. The manuscript was designed as a reference for training indigenous nobility, who were familiar with herbal medicines and would have recognized the illustration’s conventionalized representation. 

The bottom right plant illustrated here is labeled as "Quetzalylin." In Nahuatl, quetzalli is the term for precious, and ylin for alder plant (called Alnus jorullensis in modern taxonomy). The inner bark of this tree was used as a source for yellow and beige dyes, while its leaves could make yellow and green. Quetzalylin leaves are also noted as an ingredient in medicinal compounds to treat wounds and inflammation. 

— Written by Ariana Ramirez (Graduate Student, Art History) 
 
Martín de la Cruz
Introduction, translation, and annotations by Emily Walcott Emmart
Foreword by Henry E. Sigerist
The Badianus Manuscript (Codex Barberini, Latn 241) Vatican Library: An Aztec Herbal of 1552 
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1940