Agave americana, common names century plant, maguey, or American aloe,
is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to
Mexico and the United States in Texas. It is cultivated worldwide as an
ornamental plant.
|
Agave americana.
It is an acaule perennial resistant to arid terrain. The succulent
leaves are large (1-2 m by 15-25 cm), lanceolate, bluish-white,
greyish-white, green, or variegated. They spiral around the center where
they remain coiled around a short central stem (called cayote in
Mexico). They have spines along the edges, which can be wavy or jagged,
almost 2 cm long. An apical spine about 5 cm long and up to 1 cm wide at
the base.
-
Christopher Columbus once described that he had seen a plant in the
Caribbean that he mistook for aloe.
-
Other European travelers would observe its notorious presence in
semi-desert areas of the Americas (reason for its name).
|
|
Aguamiel ("honey water").
If the flower stem is cut before flowering, a sweet liquid called
aguamiel ("honey water") gathers in the hollowed heart of the plant.
-
This can be fermented to produce the alcoholic drink called
pulque or octli in pre-Columbian Mexico.
-
In the tequila-producing regions of Mexico, agaves are called
mezcales.
-
The high-alcohol product of fermented agave distillation is called
mezcal.
- Agave 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
flavored with the very pungent mezcal worm.
-
The mezcal is bottled with an insect larva, either a larva of
Comadia redtenbacheri (gusano rojo, red worm), or a
larva of Scyphophorus acupunctatus (maguey worm), both
parasites of American Agave. Traditionally, whoever finishes the
bottle must swallow the 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.
|
|
Gray-green leave.
It has a spread around 1.8–3.0 m (6–10 ft) with gray-green leaves of
0.9–1.5 m (3–5 ft) long, each with a prickly margin and a heavy spike at
the tip that can pierce deeply.
-
Although it is called the century plant, it typically lives only 10 to
30 years.
-
Near the end of its life, the plant sends up a tall, branched stalk,
laden with yellow blossoms, that may reach a total height up to 8–9 m
(25–30 ft).
-
Its common name derives from its semelparous nature of flowering only
once at the end of its long life.
-
The plant dies after flowering, but produces adventitious shoots from
the base, which continue its growth.
|
|
Agave uses.
Several species of this genus are a source of raw materials for food or
to make utensils, such as:
- sweeteners such as syrup or agave syrup, honey and sugar;
- fermented drinks: mead and pulque;
-
spirits such as mezcal, tequila, sotol, bacanora or cocuy liquor;
-
fibers from the leaves, used in spinning for fabrics, hammocks and
packaging, especially from henequen (Agave fourcroydes) and Agave
sisalana;
- paper, from residual bagasse;
- tiles made with dry leaves;
- beams made with the quiote (stem);
- nails, awls and needles obtained from the thorns;
-
musical instruments made from the flowering of the agave such as the
so-called quiote; they result in aerophones similar to the Australian
didgeridoo, and now some djembe-like drums as well. There is a debate
about the use of agave and quiote in the construction of aerophones
similar to those found in polychromes and pictograms of the Mayan
culture of the classic period such as those of the Bonampak murals;
-
another use, not related to the previous ones, is to plant agaves in a
row as fences or fences to keep the estates;
|
|
Textile fiber.
It is still cultivated for the textile fiber of its leaves, called
pita, to produce rope, nets and other objects.
-
Its preparation consists of crushing the leaves of the plant until its
green and humid part comes off. This is how the fibers inside are
obtained.
-
These are then strung together into rough-textured ropes of various
thicknesses and almost white in color.
-
Currently mechanical means are used and their use is more scarce.
|
|
Obsidian.
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava
extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is
an igneous rock.
-
Obsidian is hard, brittle, and amorphous; it therefore fractures with
sharp edges.
-
In the past, it was used to manufacture cutting and piercing tools,
and it has been used experimentally as surgical scalpel blades.
|
|
Obsidian use in Mesoamerica.
Obsidian is a naturally formed volcanic glass that was an important part
of the material culture of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Obsidian was a
highly integrated part of daily and ritual life, and its widespread and
varied use may be a significant contributor to Mesoamerica's lack of
metallurgy.
-
Due to its glassy internal structure, obsidian is relatively easy to
work, as it breaks in very predictable and controlled ways via
conchoidal fracturing. This contributed to its prolific use throughout
Mesoamerica.
-
It is obtained by either quarrying source sites or in nodule form from
riverbeds or fractured outcrops.
-
As the distribution of obsidian sources in Mesoamerica is generally
limited, many areas and sites lacked a local obsidian source or direct
access to one. As a result, tool curation through edge-rejuvenation
and/or resharpening was commonly used on larger-mass tools, such as
bifaces, to prolong the tool's (and the raw material's) utility.
|
|
Utilitarian and Ideological.
Obsidian, called itztli in the Nahuatl language, has been found
at nearly every Mesoamerican archaeological site. Items made from this
material had both utilitarian and ritual use. In many areas, it was
available to all households regardless of socio-economic status, and was
used in hunting, agriculture, food preparation, and for many other daily
activities.
-
Morphologically, obsidian was worked into a variety of tool forms,
including knives, lance and projectile points, prismatic blades,
general bifacial tools, and utilized flakes.
-
Obsidian was also used in a variety of non-utilitarian contexts.
Objects made of obsidian were used as associated grave goods, employed
in sacrifice (in whatever form), and in art.
-
Some non-utilitarian forms include miniature human effigies, ear
spools and labrets with gold and turquoise workings, carved animal
figurines, beads, vases, and as pieces of masks.
-
Obsidian was frequently used in ritualized autosacrifice
(blood-letting) activities, serving as a substitute for stingray
spines. Its association with that act of bloodletting is important, as
it is argued by some researchers that obsidian was seen as a type of
blood originating from the earth – its use in autosacrifice is
therefore especially symbolic.
|
See also
Sources
Location
