ahuehuetl (Mdz24v)
This element has been carved from the compound glyph for the place name, Ahuehuepan. The trunk and the two branches have an orange-tan color, and two-tone green foliage appears at the end of the leader and each branch.
Stephanie Wood
The standing drum (huehuetl) visible in the attestation of the compound glyph from which this tree has been carved serves as a phonetic clue that this is not just any tree, but an ahuehuete type of cypress tree. This is the national tree of Mexico, impressive for its massive trunk and overall size. The Arbol del Tule is exemplary.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
trees, cypresses, ahuehuetl
![](https://aztecglyphs.wired-humanities.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/ahuehuetl24vcypresstreeFromAhuehuepan.jpeg?itok=KeJB4Uu2)
ahuehue(tl), the Montezuma cypress tree, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ahuehuetl
the Montezuma cypress tree
Mexico City
el ahuehuete
Stephanie Wood
Codex Mendoza, folio 24 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 59 of 188.
The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).