Peyote

Peyote

Echinocactus williamsii Lemaire ex Salm-Dyck
Lophophora lewinii (K. Schumann) Rusby
Lophophora echinata Croizat
Lophophora fricii Habermann
L. williamsii var. fricii (Habermann) Grym
L. diffusa subsp. fricii (Habermann) Halda
Lophophora jourdaniana Habermann

Lophophora williamsii ( /loʊˈfɒfərə wɪlˈjæmsiaɪ/) is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. It is known by many English common names including cactus pudding, devil's-root, diabolic-root, divine cactus, dry-whiskey, dumpling cactus, Indian-dope, mescal-buttons, turnip cactus, Jesus Cum, whiskey cactus, and white-mule. The Spanish common name is peyote ( /pəˈjoʊti/; from the Nahuatl word peyōtl ). Native North Americans are likely to have used peyote for at least 5,500 years.

It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico. It is found primarily in the Chihuahuan desert and in the states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosi among scrub, especially where there is limestone.

Known for its psychoactive properties when ingested, peyote is used world wide as an entheogen and supplement to various transcendence practices, including meditation, psychonautics, and psychedelic psychotherapy. Peyote has a long history of ritualistic and medicinal use by indigenous Americans. It flowers from March through May, and sometimes as late as September. The flowers are pink, with thigmotactic anthers (like Opuntia).