ayoxochitl (FCbk8f50r)

ayoxochitl (FCbk8f50r)
Iconography

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description:

This iconographic example, featuring squash blossoms (ayoxochitl), is included in this digital collection for the purpose of making potential comparisons with related hieroglyphs. The term selected for this example comes partly from the keywords (ayotli, ayohtli) chosen by the team behind the Digital Florentine Codex, partly from the visual itself, and partly from our own Online Nahuatl Dictionary. There is no reference in the text on this page. This example shows a group of squash blossoms in profile. The flowers are yellow and the stems are green. Each flower has three spiky petals. The bundle is tied (tlalpillli, tied thing) with a white band that has some black mottling. The context makes it clear that this is one of several edible greens for sale in the marketplace.

Description, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis:

Squash blossoms, which are still so prevalent in Mexican cuisine, are nevertheless somewhat rare in this digital collection.

Added Analysis, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript:

Florentine/Florentinus, Codex (FC)

Date of Manuscript:

1577

Creator's Location (and place coverage):

Mexico City

Syntax:

noun(s)

Cultural Content & Iconography:

Food, Eating, Cooking

Markets, Commerce, Economy

Plants, Flora

Cultural Content, Credit:

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors:

Shapes and Perspectives:

tied, bound, or bundled

tripartite

Keywords:

flores, calabazas, comida, verduras, mercado, mercados, plantas

Glyph or Iconographic Image:

Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s):

ayoxoch(itl), squash blossom(s), https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ayoxochitl

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation:

la flor de calabaza

Spanish Translation, Credit:

Stephanie Wood

Image Source:

Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 8: Kings and Lords", fol. 50r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/8/folio/50r/images/0 Accessed 25 August 2025.

Image Source, Rights:

Images of the digitized Florentine Codex are made available under the following Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International). For print-publication quality photos, please contact the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana ([email protected]). The Library of Congress has also published this manuscript, using the images of the World Digital Library copy. “The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright or other restrictions in the World Digital Library Collection. Absent any such restrictions, these materials are free to use and reuse.”

Historical Contextualizing Image: