Jalisco the blue agave plant. It is the most famous type of mezcal produced in Mexico, and the only mezcal which is produced industrially with strict standards. The tequila industry supports large scale cultivation of the blue agave, with about 200,000 people employed through it directly or indirectly. It is named after a small town northwest of the city of Guadalajara in the center of where it is produced and the native region of the blue agave. The plant was used in pre-Hispanic times to make a ceremonial drink. The Spanish used the sweet heart of the mature plant, called a
Agave angustifolia 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 species with non-overlapping native distributions (García-Mendoza and Fernando Chiang 2003). "A. angustifolia" has narrow, stiffly erect leaves with moderately-spaced spines, producing capsules, not bulibiferous; whereas "A. vivipara" is described as having shorter, recurved leaves with short-spaced spines and bulbiferous. "A. vivipara" is likely