Where are the “wild chiles” in modern México? Proposal of ethnobotanical model to study origin of domesticated chiles

Nahban describes his observation of a plant-bird-bush ecological pattern in Arizona. He labels the plant “wild,” a word that suggests the specimen was found in a pristine environment unmodified by human selection or managment. This chile plant population described by Nahban, growing in another geographical location further south, might have a different story. But, what if the ways people began to use, transplant and cultivate chiles are a window on a broader set of poorly-define human-plant relationships? What if we do not have the theoretical framework to understand domestication in complex tropical territories? How can this be known? This paper seeks to address these questions through the proposal of a co-evolutionary model of management practices to be used for tropical megadiverse territories to understand the domestication processes of chiles. The zapotec ethnoecology study for the Guien guiix (C. annuum var. glabriusculum) in San Juan Guelavia, Tlacolula, Oaxaca  will be shown.