Mexican diversity of flora

Mexico is the original source for many of the world’s economically important crops, including maize, beans, peppers and tomatoes, among other natural wonders.  These wild plants became so intricately woven into the agrarian history of so many cultures for so long that many have forgotten—or perhaps never knew—their roots reside in the lands of Mexico.

Of all the countries on Earth, Mexico is one of the most endowed with biodiversity and is home to a substantially greater number of plant species than the United States and Canada combined (about 18,000), and more than twice as many as all of Europe.

Mexico possesses the highest diversity of cacti in the world (circa 800 species), reaching their highest manifestation in arid lands. It is no coincidence that the Aztecs cultivated what were, as best we know, the world’s first botanical gardens.  It may well have been the discovery of these gardens in Mexico what provided the original stimulus for the formation of the first botanical gardens in Europe early in the 16th century.