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 geographic location of Mexico and its diversity of environments. The country is located in the transition between the subtropical and tropical zones in America.
In addition, a part of its territory is located in North America and the other in Central America, separated by a volcanic axis. This means that it receives the influence of the floras of both subcontinents.
On the other hand, the varied geography of Mexico offers plains, extensive valleys, plateaus and various mountain ranges. It has a great diversity of ecosystems, from grasslands and deserts, through temperate forests to tropical forests.
Also, on its coasts are grasslands, mangroves and underwater meadows. From this explosion of floristic diversity, some of the most relevant species in Mexico are presented here..
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Fruit tree native to Central America whose fruit together with the green chili is the base of the Mexican sauce called guacamole. This tree belongs to the lauracea family and reaches about 20 m high, 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..
It is the national tree of Mexico and is a conifer belonging to the cupresáceae family that lives up to 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 water for part of the year. There are some famous ahuehuetes such as the Tree of Tule, the Tree of the Sad Night and the Sacred Tree in Ocuilán de Arteaga..
It is a giant succulent herb typical of arid areas from whose blue variety tequila is produced, a typical alcoholic beverage of Mexico. This plant belongs to the agavaceae family and has large arrosetated lanceolate leaves.
It blooms only once in its life and dies, that is, it is monocarpic. To bloom it produces a long stem in the center of the rosette of leaves, where thousands of green flowers sprout.
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, being these of intense red 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).
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 tree highly appreciated for the quality of its wood and therefore it is threatened.
It is a deciduous tree with a bulging trunk in its middle part like a barrel that belongs to the Malvaceae family. It reaches up to 70 m in height, with 3 m in diameter 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 fibers like cotton (kapok fiber).
It is an herb of the Asteraceae family with compound leaves and a large 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 medicinal, insecticide and coloring.
The culinary culture of Mexico is inconceivable without chili, this spicy fruit obtained from a bush of the Solanaceae family. It is an evergreen shrub of about 80 or 100 cm in height with single leaves, solitary or in pairs..
The fruits are berries that range from elongated to rounded, red to dark, almost black, 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 varieties of non-hot. The famous Mexican sauces or moles are prepared with the chilies, the huacle chili being used to prepare the black mole, a cultural heritage of Oaxaca..
It is a tree of 8 to 30 m in height characteristic of the Mexican southwest, in Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Campeche. It is an evergreen plant with simple dark green leaves and white floats..
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.
In Mexico, various species of Bursera that have resins, among them this, the holy copal. It is about 8 m tall trees with ashen 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..
It is an annual herb of the amaranth family with a pubescent stem (with small hairs) prostrate or recostadizo. It has simple leaves and small green flowers.
This plant is used in Mexican folk medicine and in its gastronomy, for example in the preparation of esquites (boiled corn kernels).
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 yellowish-yellow flowers. Its fruits are long green immature pods and then chestnuts, with multiple seeds.
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-colored inner bark.
From this stained aspect of the trunk comes the name of crawling, for the skin of a cat or tiger.
This shrub or leguminous tree reaches 2 to 6 m in height, has doubly compound leaves and flowers in yellowish heads. It spreads very easily which is why it is used for living fences, as green manure and for fodder.
In Mexico, the pods and seeds are consumed raw or cooked, although it is prudent to point out that consuming them raw in large quantities can be harmful..
It is a leguminous tree up to 45 m tall and a trunk diameter of 3 m with a wide crown. Its leaves are doubly compound and the green flowers are formed in heads.
The most characteristic are its fruits, which are indehiscent pods (which do not open spontaneously) in the shape of a large ear. It is used as an ornamental tree and its wood is also used.
It is a climbing legume that reaches up to 5 m in length with trifoliolate compound leaves. Its flowers are yellowish-colored from light lilac to violet and the fruits are typical pods..
The most characteristic thing is its large tuberous root of 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..
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 male apical ones. The latter give rise to the ears, whose grains rich in starch and oil are consumed cooked or in flour.
These leguminous trees reach little height, about 9 m and grow in arid and semi-arid zones. They have spiny stems, finely divided compound leaves, and yellowish flowers on spikes..
Its fruits are long legumes of high nutritional value for both animals and humans. From its seeds a sweet flour is produced that can be consumed directly (pinole de mesquite) or prepared in sweets (piloncillo).
It is a fruit tree of 3 to 15 m, with simple leaves, deciduous, typical of semi-arid areas that belongs to the Malpigiaceae family. Its flowers are yellow and turn reddish when ripe, later producing yellow to orange fruits that are eaten fresh ripe or in various preparations..
In Mexico all cacti of the genus are called nopales Opuntia, which are flattened and jointed succulent stems shrubs. 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 spiny red or orange berries. In Mexico, the plant is part of its national shield and both its fruits and stems are cooked or fried..
In Mexico there is the greatest diversity of pine trees 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 have cones or strobili (pine cones) as a reproductive structure. They are used for construction, as fuel and their resin against colds.
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 strobili are purple..
They are used as Christmas trees and in Michoacán they are the refuge of the monarch butterfly in its migrations from Canada.
It is a tree of the burserácea family of about 10 to 25 m in height, with a copper-colored bark, hence its name. This bark exfoliates revealing a green inner bark.
It has compound leaves, flowers are white to yellowish green, and reddish-brown fruits..
This pine reaches more than 60 m in height and the most characteristic thing is its orange-brown bark with black longitudinal veins. It is typical of the coniferous forests of northwestern Mexico and its wood is used for construction and carpentry.
It is a legume that owes its name to the sweet taste of its bark and reaches between 3 and 9 m in height. It is an evergreen tree with compound leaves with aromatic resin glands, white flowers and fruits in curved pods..
The plant has medicinal uses, for the recovery of areas and the elaboration of handicrafts with its wood..
Mexico has the greatest diversity of species of Quercus in the world, this being the most common in this country. This species of the fagaceae inhabits the temperate forests of northern Mexico, as well as the mixed forests.
It is a deciduous tree up to 40 m tall, with simple leaves and yellowish-green flowers in hanging spikes (catkins). It is a centenary plant, whose wood is used for the construction of boats, wine barrels and other carpentry tasks.
This is a candelabra cactus that reaches up to 18 m in height and is characteristic of the Sonoran desert. It has green columnar stems with spiny ribs (leaves transformed into thorns) and succulent, accumulating water.
It is well adapted to withstand drought in the desert and produces large white flowers. The fruits are red when ripe, berry type of white pulp with numerous and tiny seeds.
This shrub with rosette leaves, typical of the arid areas of northern Mexico, belongs to the Asparagaceae family. Its serrated-edged leaves are erect, narrow and rigid, and the flowers appear on a long central stem..
The flowers are white in the male plants and purplish pink in the female. This plant is used as an ornamental and an alcoholic drink called sotol is also prepared with it..
This fruit tree of the rosacea family reaches about 10 m in height and has thorny trunks and branches. Its leaves are simple with serrated edges, the flowers are white and give rise to pommel-like fruits (apples) yellow to orange..
These fruits, rich in vitamin C, are sweet and are eaten fresh or in syrupy preparations. They are also used to prepare the Christmas punch.
It is a multi-stemmed herb that belongs to the Poaceae family and is the ancestor of corn. It is part of the zacotales or tall grasslands of various areas of Mexico, being considered a weed and the genetic base to improve the cultivation of corn.
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