Cactus

The coat of arms of Mexico has been an important symbol of Mexican politics and culture for centuries. The coat of arms depicts a Mexican golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a snake. To the people of Tenochtitlan this would have strong religious connotations, but to the Europeans, it would come to symbolize the triumph of good over evil. The coat of arms recalls the founding of Mexico City, then called Tenochtitlan. The eagle was a representation of the sun god Huitzilopochtli, who was very important, as the Mexicas referred to themselves as the "People of the Sun". The cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica), full of its fruits, called "nochtli" in Nahuatl, represent the island of Tenochtitlan. To the Mexicas, the snake represented wisdom, and it had strong connotations with the god Quetzalcoatl. The story of the snake was derived from an incorrect translation of the Crónica mexicáyotl by Fernando Alvarado Tezozómoc. In the story, the Nahuatl text ihuan cohuatl izomocayan, "the snake hisses", was mistranslated as "the snake is torn". Based on this, Father Diego Durán reinterpreted the legend, so that the eagle represents all that is good and right, while the snake represents evil and sin. Despite its inaccuracy, the new legend was adopted because it conformed with European heraldic tradition. To the Europeans it would represent the struggle between good and evil. Although this interpretation does not conform to pre-Columbian traditions, it was an element that could be used by the first missionaries for the purposes of evangelism and the conversion of the native peoples.

Euphorbia geroldii is a species of plant in the Euphorbiaceae family. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. Loss of habitat has led to its inclusion in the ICUN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) red list of critically endangered species.

The genus of this succulent takes its name from Euphorbus, personal physician of Juba II (52 BCE – CE 23) the king of Numidia, a Berber kingdom in what is now eastern Algeria, who dedicated these plants to him in an opus that described their medicinal virtues. Juba’s father had supported Pompey in the civil war against Julius Caesar. When Caesar triumphed, the victor brought the son to Rome as a hostage. While at Rome, the young man learned Latin and Greek, became Romanized and was granted Roman citizenship. Through dedication to his studies, he is said to have become one of Rome's best educated citizens, and by the age of 20 he wrote a work on the subject of Roman Archaeology. Notwithstanding the connection of the genus with ancient Rome, this particular species is actually native to central-northern Madagascar, where it grows in the open coastal forests mainly on calcareous rocks. The species is named after the French botanist and collector René Viguier (1880-1931) who visited Madagascar in 1912.