ment, the adjacent Aguilares Plain, and the Breaks of the Rio 

 Grande (fig. 3). Peyote grows mainly along hill slopes and 

 escarpments (fig. 4). Peyoteros and Indians seeking Peyote within 

 the Aguilares Plain hunt the slopes of small hills {loniitas), espe- 

 cially if the overlying rocks are caliche. Harvesters also seek 

 gravel and stony soils. These caliche and gravel-stony hills pro- 

 vide a stable environment for Peyote, an environment highly 

 resistant to erosion, for caliche is porous, and gravel-stony sur- 

 faces intercept the impact of raindrops. Peyote grows in a variety 

 of soil associations, such as Catarina-Copita, Copita, Jimenez- 

 Quemado, Zapata (caliche soils), Maverick and Garceno, which 

 all tend toward upland shallow to moderately deep, calcareous, 

 clayey loams. 



The thornbrush vegetation type dominates much of the south 

 Texas landscape. The vegetation, having floral affinities with 

 northern Mexico, has been named the'Tamaulipan Brushlands" 

 (Correll, 1970). Lee R. Dice includes southern Texas in the 

 'Tamaulipan" biotic province; he considers the region a "diluted 

 form" (Dice, 1943). Indians refer to the area as the 'Teyote 

 gardens. "The origin of this descriptive phrase is obscure. Perhaps 

 the expression was more meaningful in the past when the plant 

 was more abundant. Since the Peyote religion is a blend of Indian 

 and Christian elements, possibly the expression "Peyote gardens" 

 symbolizes the "Garden of Eden." Resident Spanish-Americans 

 call the vegetation chaparral; they also refer to the vegetation as 

 nionte. 



In some areas the vegetation is dominated structurally and 

 floristically by black-brush acacia {Acacia amentacea), which 

 Hispanos call chaparro prieto (black chaparral); chaparral in 

 south Texas denotes vegetation with acacia, especially chaparro 

 prieto (Clover, 1 937). Other common shrubs in the Texas chapar- 

 ral are: amargoso {Castela texana), granjeno (Celtis pallida), 

 coyouWo (Karwinskia Huniholn'ana), cenizo {Leucophyllumfrute- 

 scens), guayacan {Porlieria angustifolia), scrub mesquite 

 (Prosopis Juliflora), gobernadora {Larrea tridentata), and brazil 

 (Condalia obovaia). 



Outside of the large nopal (Prickly Pear, Opimtia spp.), and 

 Tassajillo (Opunn'a leptocaulis), most cacti, such as Peyote, are 



76 



