According to Verneil Simmons, linen was not always made from flax. Herodotus, in the fifth century B.C., reports the Thracians making hempen garments which could not be told from true linen except by the most expert (Book 4:74). The native agave plant, commonly called the maguey, is a source of hemp-like fibers from which many textiles are manufactured today in Mexico. A few scraps of agave-fiber cloth have been found in Mexican tomb excavation. Jaredite women were not without the means of making "fine twined linen" (Ether 9:17).
"Silk" (Ether 9:17) has been produced in the New World. The quality is not up to Chinese standards and it cannot compete on the cost level, but the "raw material" is available. The Indians of Guatemala are still familiar with the various sources of fibers that produce silklike materials. (See Indian Crafts of Guatemala and El Salvador by Lilly de Jongh Osborne, pp. 31-32). Wallrath reported that wild silk used to be gathered by Zapotec women and woven into fabrics which sold with high profits. (See Excavations in the Tehuantepec Region of Mexico, Vol 57, Part 2, May 1967. p. 12) Both in the United States and in Mexico there are native silkworm moths -- butterflies to most people. The tropical variety are of the Saturnidae family.
(Note* Neither linen nor silk was used in ancient Peru, but rather cotton, and wool from the alpacas and llamas) [Verneil W. Simmons, Peoples, Places and Prophecies, pp. 46, 273]
Ether 9:17 Having all manner . . . of silks, and of fine linen ([Illustration]): Agave fibers drying, for use in textiles -- Northern Mexico; photo by Wayne E. Simmons. [Verneil W. Simmons, Peoples, Places and Prophecies, p. 122]