Chepil (Crotalaria longirostrata), a drought-resistant plant from Central America, is an important ingredient in the celebrated cooking of Oaxaca. There, the tiny leaves are tucked into tamales de chepil. Their pronounced flavor, similar to green beans, adds a delicious touch to white rice, and they can be ground with garlic and brushed on bread.

Corteza de maguey is the outermost layer of leaves of the maguey cactus (Agave Americana) and is similar to parchment paper in thickness, use, and consistency. Its traditional use is as a cooking wrapper for meat and poultry in bundles called mixiotes. This use of maguey is now illegal in Mexico because stripping the young leaves kills the plant. Aguamiele, the sweet sap from the flowering stem, can be drunk fresh or fermented into pulque, a white, viscous, slightly acidic alcoholic beverage popular in the Mexican countryside.

Hierba de conejo (Castilleja lanata), an herb with small, silvery gray leaves covered with fine hairs and bright red flowers, grows wild in desert areas of the United States and Mexico, where it is known as Indian paintbrush. It is frequently added to a pot of beans or rice, or cooked and eaten as a side dish like mustard greens.

Hierba santa (Piper sanctum), in the same botanical family as peppercorns, is abundant in the south-central region of Mexico; it has palm-sized, velvety, crinkled leaves, an anise scent, and a sassafras or root beer flavor. It is used to make fragrant wrappers for grilled or steamed fish dishes, such as the pescado en hoja santa (fish in holy leaf) of Veracruz.

Hojas de platano, the huge leaves of the banana plant (Musa paradisiacal), are used as tamale wrappers. Banana leaves are sold fresh and frozen in Latin American and Asian markets and are becoming more widely available in big-city supermarkets. Hojas de aguacate are the leaves of the avocado tree (Persea americana); they have a licorice-like aroma and are used fresh and dried to season mixiotes, beans, soups, and fish dishes. Hojas de maíz, the green or dried husks of corn (Zea mays), are used as tamale wrappings. They can also be used to wrap foods to be cooked on a grill, imparting their own sweet flavor to the foods inside.

Papalo (Porophyllum ruderale) is a distinctly pungent herb used in salsas; it has a flavor somewhere between arugula, cilantro, and rue. In Spanish it’s called mampuitu (skunk), because of its penetrating aroma.

Pepicha (Porophyllum tagetoides) is a warm-weather annual with a taste much like very strong cilantro; it’s used in green salsas and in cooking corn and squash. Quintoniles (Amaranthus hybridus), a variety of leaf amaranth most popular in Oaxaca, is a wild herb similar to spinach, with long, wrinkled, oval leaves and green flowers. Tila (Tillia Americana) has fragrant flowers, usually sold dried, that are used in salads or brewed into tea; it is the source of prized linden honey.

Serving Suggestions: Use hierba santa to flavor green moles, as a tamale wrapping, and with chicken and shrimp dishes. Use hojas de aguacate, hojas de platano, or hojas de maíz to wrap roast suckling pig or pork, fish, or chicken before barbecuing. Eat papalo raw on cemitas, central Mexico’s version of the Italian-style sandwich. Add quintoniles to guisado (stew) made with chipotle chiles and the small white fish called charales.

Food Affinities: Chaya: Pumpkin seed sauces, tamale wrapper. Chepil: Garlic, rice, tamales. Corteza de maguey: Mixiotes (meat or poultry bundles). Hierba de conejo: Beans, rice. Hierba santa: Fish, green mole, pumpkin seeds, tamale wrapper. Hoja de aguacate, platano or maíz: Beans, fish, mixiotes, soups. Papalo: Guacamole, tacos, salad, salsa. Pepicha: Corn, green salsa, huitlacoche (corn fungus), squash. Quintoniles: Fish, salad, tea.