• Agave gracilipes Trel.

Notes: Mescal (Agave neomexicana, Agave havardiana, Agave gracilipes and Agave parryi).
The significance of the mescal in the life of the Apaches of the South-west cannot be exaggerated. The Spanish named the Mescalero Apaches for the food on which they depended so heavily for survival. Mescal was such an important source of food, fiber, and drink that for nearly six hundred years the home ranges of the Apaches coincided with those of various species of agave. The Lipan Apaches relied on Agave havardiana in the mountains of the Big Bend region, and the Mescaleros depended on Agave neomexicana and Agave gracilipes from the Guadalupe Mountains and on Agave parryi into southern New Mexico.

Bibliography: Major references and further lectures
1) Delena Tull “Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest: A Practical Guide” University of Texas Press, 1999.