Coquitos of the Jalatlaco Church

A pair of Pseudobombax ellipticum trees were planted in this location around the year 1660, in front of what was then a hermitage dedicated to Santa Catarina (Saint Catherine). It is believed that monks from the hermitage were the ones to plant these trees centuries ago. The modern church dedicated to San Matías (Saint Matthew) was finished in 1713 in what was then a separate town called Jalatlaco.

This tree is known commonly in Spanish as coquito (likely from "little coconut", but unrelated to the edible South American ones), and also has names in other languages of Mexico's indigenous peoples, like the Zapotec guietiqui and xiloxóchitl in Náhuatl, the language of the Aztec/Mexica people. Jalatlaco was formerly a Zapotec town, but after Spanish conquest, was given to their Mexica allies as reward for their collaboration in conquering the territory. This is how it's believed that its name actually combines the Zapotec word for sand: xali, and the Náhuatl for canyon: atlahuitl; Jalatlaco would therefore be a mixed name for "sandy cliff".

Given the expansion of the city of Oaxaca's urban sprawl, Jalatlaco is now a neighborhood of the city, and what was formerly the town square centered on the church is now a plaza shaded by this pair of significant trees. Both have been added to the state of Oaxaca's list of emblematic trees. This program started in 2008 and as of 2024 numbers 41 individual specimens, including the obvious choice of the Tule Tree.