''Cymbopetalum penduliflorum'' is a species of plant in family Annonaceae. The Botanical name, specific epithet ''penduliflorum'' derives from the Latin (pendent or hanging)
and (flowered).
Common names include "sacred earflower".
In Spanish language, Spanish the plant is called
or , and in Nahuatl it is called . In the Guatemalan municipality of Todos Santos Cuchumatán it is called in the Mam language. It is called by the Qʼeqchiʼ in the area of Cobán.
The plant grows as a tree or small shrub
with Phyllotaxis#Pattern structure, distichous, Sessility (botany)#subsessile, subsessile, Glossary of leaf morphology#oblanceolate, oblanceolate Leaf, leaves. It has solitary flowers borne on long slender Peduncle (botany), peduncles coming from the Plant stem, internodes of the smaller branches. Its sepals are broadly ovate or suborbicular, Glossary of leaf morphology#Leaf and leaflet shapes, cuspidate, reflexed at length, The outer petals are similar, but are much larger than the sepals. The inner petals are thick and fleshy with an involute Leaf#Edge .28margin.29, margin that causes them to resemble a human ear. When fresh, the pungent flowers are greenish-yellow with the inner surface of the inner petals tending towards Orange (colour), orange, at length turning brownish-purple or maroon, breaking with a bright orange fracture.
The dried flowers of ''C. penduliflorum'' and related species ''Cymbopetalum costaricense, C. costaricense''
were traditionally used to give a spicy flavor to chocolate
before the arrival of cinnamon and the other Old World spices.
The dried petals are still used to in atoles, pinoles, and coffee.
It is native to mountainous areas of southern Mexico, Guatemala,
and El Salvador.
It is still cultivated as a spice in the Guatemalan regions around Cobán and Jacaltenango and sold in markets in those areas as well as Antigua Guatemala, Santa Ana, El Salvador, and San Andrés Tuxtla, Mexico.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15354746, from2=Q38424917
Cymbopetalum, penduliflorum
Spices
Inflorescence vegetables
Plants described in 1868
Chocolate
Taxa named by Martín Sessé y Lacasta
Taxa named by José Mariano Mociño
Taxa named by Michel Félix Dunal
Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon