Table 2.

Use and management forms of Agave potatorum recorded in San Luis Atolotitlán

Plant part	Use	Use form	Percentage of users	Management
Stem	Mescal production	Whole stems are backed inside an earthen pit, grounded, fermented and distilled	100	Extraction of whole individuals from wild populations
Flower buds	Food	Flowering buds are boiled or roasted, coocked with eggs or hot chilli sauce	66	People extract the whole scape, to get the flowering buds
Floral scape		Roasted over the fire while working in the field	33	Extract the young whole floral scape
Leaf bases	Food	People ask for the backed leave bases to the mescal producer and eat them as candy	30	Leave bases remaining from mescal production
	Medicine	An infusion of cooked agave leaf for lung affections	10
		Applying a piece of fresh leaf (or roasted) directly to wounded area	33	Eventually cutting up one leaf
Floral escape	Fodder	Cattle eat the growing scape	40	Cattle eat the early floral scape while it is starting to grow
	Construction	Used in small fences	16	Extract the whole floral scape
Whole plant	Religious	Agaves are transplanted from the wild to “little mountains” (montecitos) dedicated to the GuadalupeVirgin	10	Each year in December small agave individuals are transplanted from wild populations to home gardens
Uses of Mescal	As medicine	A small glass of mezcal aliviate the stomach-ache, flu symptoms, fever and cold- weat	30	(produced from agave stems)
	Ritual	A small glass of mezcal is offered to the death in the “ofrendas de muertos”	80