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 decipiens Agave decipiens Agave decipiens, common names False Sisal or Florida agave, is a plant species endemic to coastal Florida though cultivated as an ornamental in other regions. The species is reported naturalized in Spain, India, Pakistan, and South Africa. Some authors have suggested that material from Central America and from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico might be of the same species as "A. decipiens." Gentry and Zona, however, discounted this possibility, regarding this non-Floridian material as "A. vivipara" (= "A. angustifolia") "Agave decipiens" grows on hummocks in the Everglades and other marshy areas very close to sea level. It is