* Abstracted by Alex D. Hawkes from an article by Dr. Schultes entitled "Aechmea magdalenae and its Utilization as a Fibre Plant," which was published .in Botanical Museum Leaflets of Harvard University 9(7): 117-122. 1941. .
Aechmea magdalenae (Andre) Andre ex Baker, a fiber plant of southeastern Mexico, Central America and northwestern South America, is the basis of one of the most important native industries of the Chinantec and Zapotec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico. Since this industry is very ancient, , yet relatively little known, the following notes on the plant and its utilization may be of interest.
Aechmea magdalenae is known throughout its range by the vernacular names pita and pitafloja. These are inclusive terms for many fiber plants of the Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae) and Bromeliad Family (Bromeliaceae), but in this paper they are restricted to Aechmea magdalenae.
The following vernacular names have been observed in Oaxaca:
Chinantec: guh-to-oh
Spanish: clavel; ishte; ixtle; pita; pitafloja; vitaya
Zapotec: la-ga-ge-chi; ye-tsi-ro-tee
Aechmea magdalenae occurs in forested areas in southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama. Colombia, and Ecuador. The type was collected in Colombia.
This large terrestrial species resembles the pineapple in many respects, and consists of a rosette of leaves and a stalked inflorescence. The leaves which are frequently six feet long (they have been reported as long as ten feet) are narrow, linear, very flexible, and armed along the margins with prominent, recurved teeth. The red inflorescences are large and capitate; the fruits are enlarged and juicy. The plants tend to form extensive and impenetrable thickets on the forest floor. These thickets are so characteristic an ecological formation in some parts of Central America that they have been called pitales from the vernacular name of the plant. In the Districts of Villa Alta.and Choapam- the Chinantla of Oaxaca- the northeastern limits of its range, Aechmea magdalenae is very abundant at altitudes of between 450 and 650 meters. Aechmea magdalenae is the basis of the pita industry of the Chinantec Indians of the Chinantla, with the extraction of the fiber being practiced by the Chinantecs even in pre-hispanic times. The pita industry is believed to have been much more extensive in former times than it is now . At the present time, the industry is centered (in Oaxaca's Chinantla district) in San Pedro Tepinapa, and to a lesser degree in Monte Negro de Lalana and Rio Chiquito. Very little pita work is carried on in San Juan Teotalcingo, San Juan Petlapa and San Juan Toabela- the seats of the Chinantec basket industry. This is due to the fact that Aechmea magdalenae is not abundant at the altitude of these towns and only scattered plants are to be found in the surrounding forests.
The work of procuring the fiber is accomplished chiefly by the Chinantec women who cut the leaves near the ground and remove the soft. flexible but strong fibers. The extraction process consists in rubbing the softer tissues of the leaf free from the fibers on a metate. The fibers are then thorough1y washed and freed from extraneous materials. When dry, the finished product is almost white in color .
Very little of the fiber is worked by the Chinantecs themselves. In San Juan Teotalcingo and neighboring villages, a small amount of the pita fiber is utilized in the manufacture of the pheasant- and falcon - feather fans so typical of the region, but, other than this, no use is made of the fiber locally by the Chinantecs, not even in the manufacture of their
baskets .
The greater part of the fiber which the Chinantecs gather and prepare is sold to Zapotec carriers who take it to such large Zapotec centers as San Ildefonso Villa Alta, Yalalag, and Oaxaca City. In these centers the fiber is worked into hammocks, ropes, nets, and many other articles . Some of the Chinantec pita fiber finds its way to Vera Cruz through the village of Monte Negro de Lalana and by way of the Rio Monte Negro. In the collection of Economic Plants of the Botanical Museum of Harvard University there is a large hank of fiber of Aechmea magdalenae which was purchased in San Ildefonso Villa Alta and which, according to the natives, had been traded in from the mountain village of San Pedro Tepinapa.
Pita fiber is also extensively used by the Zapotec Indians of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the southeastern-most part of Oaxaca, immediately adjacent to the Chinantla. On the Isthmus , Aechmea magdalenae is often referred to as ixtle. This term, in its usual and genera! sense, is applied to desert species of fiber-plants which, because of the dense covering of wet tropical forest do not occur on the Isthmus.
An early and detailed account of the industry is that given by J. J. Williams in J. G. Barnard "The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, " published in 1852. Barnard's work, which includes a very complete account of the vegetable products of Tehuantepec, has unfortunately in the past been neglected or overlooked. Due to this fact, Williams' discussion of pita (p. 184-5) will be quoted in part:
"Among the spontaneous products is the bromelia pita, or ixtle of the Isthmus. . . Of this prolific plant there are numerous varieties, all yielding fibers which vary in quality from the coarsest hemp to the finest flax. . . The simplicity of its cultivation and the facility of extracting and preparing its products render it of universal use. From it is fabricated thread and cordage, mats, bagging and clothing, and the hammocks in which the natives are born, repose and die. The fibers of the pita are sometimes employed in the manufacture of paper, it is used as a caustic for wounds, and its thorns serve the Indians for needles and pins. The point generally selected for its cultivation is a thick-forest, from which the small undergrowth is removed by cutting and burning. The roots of the old plants are then set out, at a distance of five or six feet apart, and at the end of a year the leaves are cut and 'rasped'. When the pita is young its fibers are fine and white. but as it increases in age they become longer and coarser. . . In a wild state the thorns are very numerous, but by cultivation they are diminished both in size and number, and in many instances there are none at all. Even with the imperfect instruments used in cleaning the leaves, four or five pounds of fibres per day is only a fair average for the labor of a man. . . In 1831, . . .the ixtle plantations in the northern division numbered 1221.
Aechmea magdalenae is known to be utilized as the source of a fiber not only by the natives in Mexico, but also in Honduras. Costa Rica, Panama and other parts of Central America, and Colombia.
Although it must be classed as one of the most desirable of Mexican fiber plants, Aechmea magdalenae has apparently only recently begun to attract the attention which it merits. It has not been mentioned in treatises on the subject by Altamirano (1910), M. Martinez , (1928)., nor by Dodge (1897) nor in .'Vegetable Fibres" (1912).
In 1901, Belmar ("Breve resena historica y geografica del Estado de Oaxaca", 119) mentioned the pita industry under the Industrias indlgenas, stating that in Villa Alta beautiful hammocks as well as the type of slipper called cacle or huarache were manufactured from pita and ixtle.
In 1923. C . H. Wright obtained flowers of Aechmea magdalenae and published a brief note on the plant identifying it as the source of a Colombian fiber which had long been known simply as "pita". At about the same time Aechmea magdalenae was introduced into southeastern Asia for experimentation.
Although the fibers of most of the Bromeliaceae have not. on the whole , been commercially promising, that of Aechmea magdalenae is of superior quality. It has been shown to possess great powers of resistance to the effects of salt water. Cross and Bevan report that "of the fibers of potential industrial importance it stands pre-eminent. The breaking-strain gives a number for weight/length unit superior to those of the staple textile fibers of all classes. The tenacity figures are quite remarkable. The resistance to alkaline hydrolysis (caustic soda) is good." —SeeSmith & Downs 1979
