iczotl (Mdz42r)
This element for iczotl (yucca palm) has been carved from the compound sign for the place name, Iczochinanco. The iczotl shown in this image is standing upright, with a light orange trunk, and two-toned green foliage. In between these elements is a skirt-like fringe in a yellow color that seems to represent spent branches (once green, they turn yellow or tan in color as they dry). The trunk of the yucca tree also has a texture somewhat representative of the yucca palm in nature.
Stephanie Wood
The place name suggests that the iczotl was growing on a chimamitl (well-watered agricultural parcel on the lake shore, called a chinampa in contemporary Mexican Spanish). The iczotl appears to be a yucca palm, according to translations captured in our online dictionary. The Gran Diccionario del Náhuatl provides a visual of the plant from a manuscript. That image shows a white flower at the top, which really adds to the impression of a yucca or yucca palm. The yucca produces a fiber used for making clothing and sandals. An ancient Puebloan sandal made from yucca fiber has been published by the National Park Service.
Stephanie Wood
c. 1541, but by 1553 at the latest
Stephanie Wood
yucca plant
Codex Mendoza, folio 42 recto, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 94 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).
