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15 plants worth knowing

Mexico

Mexico is one of the megadiverse countries – more than 23,000 species of vascular plants grow here, roughly half of them endemic. The north is taken up by the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts with their cacti and agaves, the Sierra Madre ranges carry pine–oak forests with the world’s greatest number of pine and oak species, and the south – Chiapas and the Yucatán – has humid tropical forests. Mexico is also the cradle of maize, beans, the tomato, cacao and the avocado.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. Prickly pear 1

    cactus · The nopal on the coat of arms and flag of Mexico

    Prickly pear

    Opuntia ficus-indica

    The cactus on Mexico’s coat of arms – legend says the Aztecs founded Tenochtitlán where an eagle perched on a nopal was devouring a snake.
  2. Montezuma cypress 2

    tree · National tree of Mexico (since 1921)

    Montezuma cypress

    Taxodium mucronatum

    The Árbol del Tule in Oaxaca belongs to this species – the tree with the stoutest trunk in the world, more than 40 m round.
  3. Red dahlia 3

    flower · The dahlia – national flower of Mexico (since 1963)

    Red dahlia

    Dahlia coccinea

    The wild ancestor of garden dahlias – the Aztecs ate its tubers, and today the dahlia is Mexico’s national flower.
  4. Blue agave 4

    crop

    Blue agave

    Agave tequilana

    Tequila is distilled from its roasted “heart” – the blue agave plantations of Jalisco are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  5. Mexican marigold 5

    flower

    Mexican marigold

    Tagetes erecta

    The orange “flower of the dead” – its petals mark the way for souls to home altars on the Día de Muertos.
  6. Avocado 6

    crop

    Avocado

    Persea americana

    Mexico is the world’s largest avocado producer, and the word itself comes from the Aztec “āhuacatl”.
  7. Chili pepper 7

    crop

    Chili pepper

    Capsicum annuum

    Jalapeño, poblano, serrano, chipotle – hundreds of chili varieties from Mexico, where the pepper was domesticated thousands of years ago.
  8. Poinsettia 8

    shrub

    Poinsettia

    Euphorbia pulcherrima

    A Mexican shrub that conquered the world as the poinsettia and became the most popular Christmas plant of all.
  9. Cacao 9

    crop

    Cacao

    Theobroma cacao

    The sacred tree of the Maya and Aztecs – its seeds made a bitter drink for rulers, and the beans served as money.
  10. Vanilla 10

    orchid

    Vanilla

    Vanilla planifolia

    An orchid from the forests of Veracruz whose pods the Totonacs and Aztecs added to chocolate long before Europeans arrived.
  11. Common bean 11

    crop

    Common bean

    Phaseolus vulgaris

    One of the “three sisters” of Mesoamerican farming – a Mexican table is hard to imagine without frijoles.
  12. Pumpkin 12

    crop

    Pumpkin

    Cucurbita pepo

    One of the oldest domesticated plants in the Americas – its seeds from a cave in Oaxaca are about 10,000 years old.
  13. Oyamel fir 13

    tree

    Oyamel fir

    Abies religiosa

    A mountain fir on which millions of monarch butterflies from Canada and the USA hang every winter.
  14. Peyote 14

    cactus

    Peyote

    Lophophora williamsii

    A small, spineless cactus from the Chihuahuan Desert – the sacred plant of the Wixárika people and the goal of their yearly pilgrimages.
  15. Chia 15

    crop

    Chia

    Salvia hispanica

    A sage whose tiny seeds the Aztecs paid as tribute – known worldwide today as the “superfood” chia.