por The flora of mexico it is one of the most diverse in the world with around 26,000 species of flowering plants. It is the fourth country in the world in plant diversity and due to its wealth of living beings it is considered a megadiverse country.
The determining factor in the development of this great diversity of plants is the geographical location of Mexico and its diversity of environments. The country is located in the transition between the subtropical and tropical zone in America.
In addition, one part of its territory is located in North America and the other in Central America, separated by a volcanic axis. This makes it receive the influence of the flora of both subcontinents.
On the other hand, the varied geography of Mexico offers plains, extensive valleys, plateaus and diverse mountain ranges. It has a great diversity of ecosystems, from grasslands and deserts, through temperate forests to tropical jungles.
Also, on its coasts are grasslands, mangroves and underwater meadows. Some of the most important species in Mexico are presented here from this explosion of floristic diversity.
Avocado (Persea americana)
Fruit tree native to Central America whose fruit, together with green chili, is the base of the Mexican sauce called guacamole. This tree belongs to the laurel family and reaches about 20 m in height, presenting simple leaves and small greenish-yellow flowers.
Its fruits are similar to a pear with a green or almost black outer layer and inside the pulp is greenish-yellow and creamy.
Huegete (Taxodium huegelii)
It is the national tree of Mexico and is a conifer belonging to the Cupressaceae family that lives for more than 500 years. It reaches up to 40 m in height with trunks between 2 and 14 m in diameter, flattened linear leaves and almost spherical cones or strobili.
This tree grows on the banks of rivers with its roots submerged in the water for part of the year. There are some famous ahuehuetes such as the Tule Tree, the Tree of the Sad Night and the Sacred Tree in Ocuilán de Arteaga.
Blue Agave (Agave tequilana)
It is a giant succulent herb typical of arid areas whose blue variety produces tequila, a typical alcoholic beverage from Mexico. This plant belongs to the agaváceas family and has large rosette-lanceolate leaves.
It blooms only once in its life and dies, that is, it is monocarpic. To flower, it produces a long stem in the center of the leaf rosette, where thousands of green flowers sprout.
Trotters Tree (Chiranthodendron pentadactylon)
It is an evergreen tree that reaches about 30 m in height and belongs to the Malvaceae family. It receives its name from its flowers that resemble a small hand, these being intense red in color and the fruits are woody capsules.
In Mexico it is used as a medicinal plant and in some regions the leaves are used to wrap stuffed corn buns (tamales).
Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla)
This tree is characteristic of the humid and semi-humid forests of Mexico and belongs to the Meliaceae family. It reaches up to 60 m in height and 1.5 m in diameter with a reddish wood trunk, dark green compound leaves and small yellowish-green flowers.
Its fruits are large woody capsules with numerous seeds with a one-sided wing. It is a highly appreciated tree for the quality of its wood and for this reason it is threatened.
Ceiba (Ceiba pentandra)
It is a deciduous tree with a bulky trunk in its middle part like a barrel that belongs to the Malvaceae family. It reaches up to 70 m in height, with a diameter of 3 m and has palmate compound leaves.
Its trunk and branches have large thorns and its large flowers are white, pink or yellow. The fruits are capsules filled with seeds covered with cotton-like fibers (kapok fiber).
Cempasúchil, Cempaxóchitl or flower of the dead (Tagetes erecta)
It is a herb of the Asteraceae family with compound leaves and a large flower head (head) of yellow-orange to brick-red flowers. Since pre-Columbian times this plant has been used in ceremonial rites to honor gods or the dead.
In this sense it is a plant widely used to decorate altars, but it is also useful as a medicine, insecticide and dye.
Chili (Capsicum annuum)
The culinary culture of Mexico is inconceivable without chili, this spicy fruit obtained from a shrub of the nightshade family. It is a perennial shrub about 80 or 100 cm tall with single or paired simple leaves.
The fruits are elongated to rounded, red to dark almost black berries, with numerous seeds. In Mexico there are countless varieties, such as jalapeño, serrano and poblano peppers.
It is the same species of paprika or pepper, as well as other non-spicy varieties. With the chiles, the famous Mexican sauces or moles are prepared, the huacle chili being used to prepare the black mole, a cultural heritage of Oaxaca.
Chicozapote (Manilkara zapota)
It is a tree from 8 to 30 m tall characteristic of the Mexican southwest, in Yucatan, Quintana Roo and Campeche. It is an evergreen plant with dark green simple leaves and white flowers.
It is also called the gum tree, since it has a milky latex that is the origin of this chewable material. Its fruits are edible and have a high content of sugars, vitamins and minerals.
Copal (Bursera copallifera)
In Mexico, various species of bursera that possess resins, among them this, the holy copal. These are trees about 8 m tall with ashy gray bark, rich in resin, compound leaves, white flowers and red fruits.
The resin of this plant has been used in Mexico since pre-Columbian times as incense and medicine.
Epazote (Dysphania ambrosioides)
It is an annual herb of the amaranthaceae family with a pubescent stem (with small hairs) that is prostrate or recumbent. It has simple leaves and small green flowers.
This plant is used in Mexican folk medicine and gastronomy, for example in the preparation of esquites (boiled corn grains).
Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
This cultivated legume species is native to Mexico and is part of the traditional Mexican diet. Its grains of different varieties, red, white, black or painted, are eaten cooked.
It is an erect or climbing herb with trifoliate leaves and white, yellow, purple or reddish-colored flowers. Its fruits are pods with immature green shoots and then chestnut, with multiple seeds.
Crawled or rum-rum (Astronium graveolens)
It is a deciduous tree up to 60 m tall with high-quality wood that belongs to the Anacardiaceae family. It has compound leaves and its grayish outer bark exfoliates in spots, revealing areas of yellowish-cream inner bark.
From this spotted appearance of the trunk comes the name of crawling, after the skin of a cat or tiger.
Huaje or gourd (Leucaena leucocephala)
This leguminous shrub or tree reaches 2 to 6 m in height, has doubly compound leaves and yellowish flower heads. It spreads very easily, so it is used for living fences, as a green manure and for fodder.
In Mexico, the pods and seeds are eaten raw or cooked, although it is prudent to point out that their raw consumption in large quantities can be harmful.
Huanacaxtle (Enterolobium cyclocarpum)
It is a leguminous tree up to 45 m tall and 3 m in trunk diameter with a wide crown. Its leaves are doubly compound and the green flowers are formed in flower heads.
The most characteristic are its fruits, which are indehiscent pods (that do not open spontaneously) in the shape of a large ear. It is used as an ornamental tree and its wood is also used.
Jicama or Mexican turnip (Pachyrhizus erosus)
It is a climbing legume that reaches up to 5 m in length with trifoliolate compound leaves. Its flowers are pale lilac to violet butterfly-shaped and the fruits are typical pods.
The most characteristic is its large tuberous root up to 30 cm in diameter, brown on the outside and white on the inside. This root is consumed both fresh and cooked, being rich in starch (carbohydrates) and with a sweet taste.
Maize (Zea mays)
It is the typical cereal of America and has its origin in the lands of Mexico. It has been domesticated and cultivated since pre-Columbian times, about 10,000 years ago.
It is a giant herb of the poaceae family, with linear leaves, female flowers on short lateral stems, and apical male flowers. The latter give rise to the ears, whose grains rich in starch and oil are eaten cooked or in flour.
Mesquite (Prosopis spp.)
These leguminous trees reach a low height, around 9 m, and grow in arid and semi-arid areas. They have spiny stems, finely divided compound leaves, and yellowish flowers in spikes.
Its fruits are long legumes of high nutritional value for both animals and humans. A sweet flour is produced from its seeds that can be eaten directly (mesquite pinole) or prepared into sweets (piloncillo).
Nance (Byrsonima crassifolia)
It is a fruit tree from 3 to 15 m tall, with simple, deciduous leaves, typical of semi-arid areas that belongs to the Malpigiaceae family. Its flowers are yellow and turn reddish when ripe, producing yellow to orange fruits that are eaten fresh or in various preparations.
Nopal (Opuntia spp.)
In Mexico, all the cacti of the genus are called nopales. Opuntia, which are shrubs with flattened, jointed succulent stems. These plants, like most cacti, have transformed their leaves into thorns and photosynthesis is carried out by their green stems.
They have large yellow, orange or red flowers, with numerous petals and stamens, and the fruits are red or orange spiny berries. In Mexico, the plant is part of its national coat of arms and both its fruits and stems are eaten cooked or fried.
White Ocote (Pinus montezumae)
In Mexico there is the greatest diversity of pines in the world and the ocote is one of the best known species. This coniferous tree reaches between 20 and 35 m in height with a trunk up to 80 cm in diameter.
Its leaves are needle-shaped like most pines and it has cones or strobila (pine cones) as a reproductive structure. They are used for construction, as fuel and its resin against colds.
Oyamel (Abies religiosa)
This is another species of the Pinaceae family, which reaches 25 to 60 m in height with a characteristic conical crown. It has leaves like flat needles and its cones or strobila are purple in color.
They are used as Christmas trees and in Michoacán they are the refuge of the monarch butterfly in its migrations from Canada.
Mulatto stick (Bursera simaruba)
It is a tree of the burserácea family from 10 to 25 m high, with a copper-colored bark, hence its name. This bark exfoliates revealing a green inner bark.
It has compound leaves, white to yellowish-green flowers, and reddish-brown fruits.
ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
This pine reaches more than 60 meters in…