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 potatorum Agave potatorum Agave potatorum, the Verschaffelt agave, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae. A smallish and attractive succulent perennial, it is native to partial desert areas of Mexico from Puebla south to Oaxaca. The Latin specific epithet "potatorum" refers to drinking and brewing. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. "Agave potatorum" grows as a basal rosette of between 30–80 flat spatulate leaves of up to 1 foot in length and edge fringe of short, sharp, dark spines and ending in a needle of up to 1.6 inches long. The leaves