Welcome to Flora of the Yucatán
The intent of this website is to create a general layman’s reference site for identifying
some native species (and some non-native) of the Yucatán Peninsula. This site is for the purposes of a student project in
the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Species can be located either by
scientific name through the link on the left or through general identification of vegetation and leaf type below.
This site is a compilation of other works on which I have relied on for the availability and accuracy of an existing body of
knowledge of vegetation of the Yucatán Peninsula. I am extremely thankful to a handful of authors that this legacy of
information even exists. I have also tried to include information of native Maya uses of plants both past and present, as
well as species status if threatened or endangered, and of any known introduced species that may be considered an ecological
threat to the region.
This website is a work in progress and is always subject to changes and updates as new information warrants. I hope this
site is helpful to those who want to learn more about the flora of the interesting region of Mexico known as the Yucatán
Peninsula.
Acknowledgments
I owe special thanks to the kindness and generosity of the many people who have provided me guidance on this project. I have
relied heavily on four authors in particular and have referenced their research throughout the body of this website.
(please see suggested readings for a complete bibliography). I owe much of the information found here to Ralph Roys The
Ethno-Botany of the Maya, Marianna Kunow Maya Medicine, P.C. Standley Flora of the Yucatan and Victoria Schlesinger Animals & Plants of the Ancient
Maya.
Many of the photos on this site I have found from other online sites, but in particular I would like to thank Dr. W. John
Hayden, professor of biology at the University of Richmond for the wonderful photos online from the Helen Moyers Biological
Reserve known as Kaxil Kiuic, to “Dave’s Garden” and to the many other photographers who have posted photos of the flora of
the Yucatan. Additionally, I owe credit to Centro de Investigación Científica de Yucatán (CICY) and the Kaxil Kiuic Reserve
whom I have noted in the individual plant pages where live specimens can be found at their facilities.
I would like to thank Dr. German Carnevali at CICY who provided me with literature and information regarding the projects at
CICY. I also owe thanks to the following professors at the University of Kansas, who not only challenged me, but inspired
me to just do the best I could at whatever I chose to do: Dr. William (Bill) Woods, Director of Environmental Studies; Dr.
Shannon O’Lear, Dept of Geography; Dr. Stacy White, Dept of Architecture and Urban Planning and Dr. Robert Hagen, Field
Ecology. I am greatly indebted to my university advisor Dr. Kelly Kindscher who first sparked an interest in me to learn
more about native vegetation, encouraged me to follow my interests and most importantly inspired me to be creative in
pursuing this project. Finally, most importantly, I want to thank my husband Steve who is responsible for all the
technical work behind this website. Without him, this site would not exist. And with him, I hope to further pursue studying
this exciting field.
I hope you enjoy Flora of the Yucatan.
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