TRACHYPOGON PLUMOSUS (POACEAE, ANDROPOGONEAE) - ANCIENT THATCH AND MORE FROM THE CEREN SITE, EL SALVADOR

Paleoethnobotanical studies in the Zapotitan Valley of north-central E l Salvador revealed that a species of grass, Trachypogon plumosus, was in common use as a thatch material at the Ceren site, a small mesoame rican farming community inundated by volcanic ash circa A.D. 590. Alth ough the grass must have been common in Precolumbian times, repeated a ttempts to collect fresh specimens from the modern valley were unsucce ssful. A survey of the major herbaria with collections from El Salvado r likewise demonstrated a lack of modern specimens from the Zapotitan Valley. The elimination of the T. plumosus from this area and its char acteristic savanna habitat probably occurred as a result of the introd uction of competing Old World grasses and excessive herbivory. This fi nding demonstrates why conservationists working in the tropics should be concerned not only with the extinction of rain forest habitats, but with the elimination of other habitats as well.