pita

(Sp. model spelled same [píta], of uncertain origin, probably from the Caribbean)

   1) Clark: 1760s. A fiber obtained from the agave or maguey plant or from another similar plant.

   2) A bag, box, rope, or net made from pita fiber. The DRAE glosses pita as a native Mexican perennial plant of the Amaryllidaceous family. Growing in a triangular pyramid, its light-green, fleshy, spiny leaves are about six to eight inches wide at the base and up to four-and-one-half feet long. It produces yellow flowers in bunches on a central stalk that does not develop until the plant is twenty or thirty years old. On reaching maturity, the stalk develops very quickly, growing to a height of twenty to twenty-three feet in a matter of days. The plant is very useful for making living fences in dry, hot regions. Although it originated in Mexico, it now grows naturally on the coasts of the Mediterranean. Its leaves produce a strong fiber and some varieties contain a sugary liquid that can be extracted to make pulque. The term pita is also used in Spanish to refer to the thread produced by the plant. Santamaría concurs with the definitions provided by the DRAE and adds that the most common genera to bear the name pita are Fourcraea and Agave.