Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (PVDN) – Two new species of agave were discovered by scientists from the University Center for Biological and Agricultural Sciences (CUCBA) of the University of Guadalajara (UdeG) and registered in the endemic category: they only exist in Jalisco, due to the unique characteristics they present due to the habitat in which they grow.
These are the species Agave servandoana and Agave martaelenae, which can be found in the mountains of the municipalities of Chiquilistlán and Tapalpa, reported Dr. José Antonio Vázquez García, one of the discoverers of these plants and a research professor at the Institute of Botany of the UdeG.
He explained that before the discovery it was suspected that the agaves were of the Agave pedunculifera species, which can be found in San Ignacio, Sinaloa. However, they analyzed the characteristics of the specimens found in Jalisco in order to observe similarities and differences.
“It is inconceivable that a plant that grows there, among the moss and at the foot of the mountain, is going to be the same as what we have here in the pine and oak forests, in the Tapalpa or Chiquilistlán region; they are very different habitats,” he said.
Agave servandoana specimens were found in outcrops of calcareous rock or “calichosas” in the Ferrería hydrographic sub-basin, in Chiquilistlán; It blooms from November to January and its name is a tribute to Dr. Servando Carvajal Hernández, from the Institute of Botany.
While the Agave martaelenae can be found in the Jiquilpan hydrographic sub-basin, and flowers between November and February; this agave can grow in basaltic walls, which made it difficult to obtain samples of the species. This plant was named in honor of Mrs. Marta Elena González, wife of Dr. Vázquez.
“Agave martaelenae is beautiful, it has very wide, enormous, bluish-green leaves, and its fruits are elongated, cylindroid. On the other hand, Agave servandoana has thin leaves, more concave, like grooved and olive in color, and its fruits are like ovoids”, he explained.
Vázquez García added that these plants can be produced and used for ornamental or decorative purposes.
“It would be a spectacle to see them blooming in squares, in hotels, so that people know the value and beauty of these plants, and then the desire to propagate and preserve them with sustainable management arises,” he concluded.
