AGAVE STUDIES IN YUCATAN, MEXICO .1. PAST AND PRESENT GERMPLASM DIVERSITY AND USES

Henequen (Agave fourcroydes) is believed to have been domesticated by the Maya from Agave angustifolia and has been of great economical and cultural relevance in the Mexican State of Yucatan since pre-Hispanic times. Although at the beginning of this century, the recorded diversity included eight cultivated variants, our ethnobotanical exploration reveals only three, one of them in very small populations. Three wild variants with different fiber quality and possibly three ecotypes were found in our study. The documented use of agaves in the Peninsula of Yucatan is as a source of fiber. However, ethnobotanical exploration revealed that wild and cultivated variants have over 40 traditional uses. Medicinal use is the most diverse, followed by its use in construction, as utensils, and for textiles. The most frequent uses are as fiber, fuel, construction material, and medicine. One of the most interesting uses of these species is as food; this may have been important in the domestication of the plant.