Agave americana flavored with the very pungent mezcal worm. "Mezcal" and "tequila", although also produced from agave plants, are different from "pulque" in their technique for extracting the sugars from the heart of the plant, and in that they are distilled spirits. In "mezcal" and "tequila" production, the sugars are extracted from the "piñas" (or hearts) by heating them in ovens, rather than by collecting "aguamiel" from the plant's cut stalk. Thus, if one were to distill "pulque", it would not be a form of "mezcal", but rather a different drink. Agave nectar is marketed as a natural form of sugar with
Agave shawii flowering. Seeds are best sown fresh with no stratification required. Agave shawii Agave shawii, with the common names coastal agave or Shaw's agave, is a very rare and critically endangered species in the genus "Agave" native to southwestern California and Baja California. The plant is named for Henry Shaw, the founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The plant is native to California coastal sage and chaparral habitats, along the Pacific Coast of northern Baja California state of Mexico and southwesternmost San Diego County of California. It is much more common in the wild in Baja California than in San Diego