Agave americana pita, which are suitable for making rope, matting, or coarse cloth. They are also used for embroidery of leather in a technique known as "piteado". Both pulque and maguey fiber were important to the economy of pre-Columbian Mexico, where the fermented drink was known as "octli". In the tequila-producing regions of Mexico, agaves are called" mezcales". The high-alcohol product of fermented agave distillation is called "mezcal"; "A. americana" is one of several agaves used for distillation. A mezcal called "tequila" is produced from "Agave tequilana", commonly called "blue agave". The many different types of mezcal include some which may be
Agave angustifolia similar to "A. karatto". The "A. vivipara" of Miller (1768) and Smith et al. (2008) seem different, of a much smaller habit and narrower leaves, from the "A. vivipara" of Trelease (1913) and García-Mendoza and Fernando Chiang (2003), of a much larger habit. Agave angustifolia Agave angustifolia (Caribbean agave) is a plant which is native to Mexico and Central America. It is used to make mezcal and also as an ornamental plant, particularly the cultivar 'Marginata'. The "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families" regards "Agave angustifolia" as an illegitimate synonym for "Agave vivipara" L. Other sources maintain them as distinct