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 mitis Agave mitis Agave mitis is a plant species native to the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí, referred to as "Agave celsii" in many publications. "Agave mitis" forms rosettes of blue-green to yellow-green, fleshy leaves up to 60 cm (2 feet) long. The leaves have soft brown spines not nearly as imposing as those of other agaves. The flowering stalk is up to 2.5 m (8 feet)tall, with the flowers closely appressed against the stem forming a narrow column much more compact than most other species of the genus. Flowers are green, each up to 60 mm