5. B-PHENYLETHYLAMINES 
Cactaceae 
Lophophora Coult. 
One of the ancient sacred hallucinogens of Mexico, still in use, 
is the small, grey-green, napiform, spineless cactus peyote: 
Lophophora Williamsii (Lem.) Coult. It might well be called the 
“prototype” of hallucinogens, since it has been one of the most 
spectacular and most thoroughly studied psychotomimetics 
known. It was first fully described by the early Spanish medical 
doctor Francisco Hernandez, but many other colonial Spanish 
chroniclers detailed the strange story of peyote. Peyote rites 
persist in several tribes of northern Mexico. It was used in Texas 
in 1760, was known amongst American Indians during the Civil 
War but came to public attention in the United States about 
1880, when the Kiowas and Comanches elaborated a typical 
Plains Indian vision-quest ritual around its ceremonial inges- 
tion. The Peyote Cult, organized as the Native American 
Church, has gradually spread to many tribes in the United States 
and Canada and counts at least 250,000 adherents (Collier 1952; 
LaBarre 1959, 1960; Schultes 1937a, 1937b and 1937c). The 
chlorophyll-bearing crown of the cactus is eaten. It can be dried 
into discoidal “mescal buttons”, which are virtually indestruc- 
tible and can be shipped over long distances. 
The peyote cactus was first botanically described as Echino- 
cactus Williamsii Lem. in 1845. In the chemical literature, it is 
still frequently referred to this genus and to Anhalonium Lem. 
In 1894, it was placed in the genus Lophophora. Its nomencla- 
ture and taxonomy are still confused, and L. Williamsii has 
more than 25 synonyms, most of them referring to age-forms of 
the variable crown (Anderson 1980; Schultes 1937a). Lopho- 
Phora was once accepted as monotypic. Recent work, however, 
indicates that L. diffusa (Croiz.) Bravo of Querétaro, Mexico, is 
morphologically and chemically worthy of specific recognition 
(Bruhn 1975b, 1976). 
Lophophora 1s placed in the tribe Cereae, subtribe Echino- 
cactanae, a subtribe of some 28 genera, many of them small or 
monotypic and included in Echinocactus Link, (Ariocarpus 
Scheidw., Astrophytum Lem., Roseocactus Berger, etc.). It 
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