ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the results of preliminary investigation and comparison of folk taxonomies representing two of the four major language families of Mesoamerica. In Mesoamerica, the homeland of maize, the systematic investigation of native plant categorization among the indigenous societies began less than 50 years ago, and there are few extensive studies. Further investigation of Mesoamerican folk botanies may cast light on important processes of cultural evolution and development. The chapter argues that comparative research into Mesoamerican folk taxonomies, especially with regard to the treatment of cultigens, has the potential to shed light on important questions of human cultural development. Although there is considerable linguistic diversity, there is also considerable cultural similarity: all of the various linguistic groups share the "Mesoamerican triad", the agricultural complex of maize, beans, and squash, along with other cultigens. Newly domesticated plants spread quickly across the region, and Mesoamerican societies thus faced similar problems in the conceptual treatment of cultigens with respect to wild plants.
