Ocoapan (Mdz39r)

This compound glyph for the place name Ocoapan has two principal visual elements, a pine tree (ocotl) that provides pitch for torches and a part of a canal or water ditch (apantli), which provides the phonetic indicator for the locative suffix -apan ("on the waters"). The apantli, seen in cross-section, has its waters spilling out, unlike most examples, which fully contain the water. The boundary or structure of this canal or water ditch is yellow and has hash marks in groups of three periodically spaced around that perimeter. The turquoise-colored water has the black lines of current and two white turbinate shells and a white droplet (or precious stone) with its concentric circle coming off the water, so typical of both atl (water) and apantli. The pine tree has two trunks, each one with green foliage and yellow blossoms. The trunks have diagonal black lines, thick and thin, which are so typical of the way trees are indicated in the Codex Mendoza. Between the two trunks appears to be a pine cone, which may be providing a clue that this is a torch pine. One of the branches, coming out the back of the tree, has been cut off. Perhaps it was cut for its torch material.