use or upon the ethnobotanical relationships of the cactus 
with other economic plants. 
1. Peyote. 
Lophophora Williamsu is most commonly called pe- 
yote. This is the Spanish form of the ancient Nahuatlan 
peyotl. It is variously spelled: piote, piotl, peote, pejole, 
peyot, pellote, pezote, and peyort. In Starr County, Texas, 
the centre of the peyote trade,’ the corruption chadlote is 
used by merchants (3).* The related corruption chautle 
or chaute are Mexican and ‘Texan names for the supposed 
medicinal cactuses, Ariocarpus fissuratus (Kngelm.) K. 
Schum. (29) and A.retusus Scheidw.’ (2). Peyote cimar- 
ron is used to designate Ariocarpus fissuratus (29) and, 
in Durango, Astrophytum myriostigma Wem. (2). This 
term is also used, in Nayarit, asa name for Senecio Hart- 
wegv Benth.,a member of the Compositae,and,in Sinaloa, 
to designate Cranichis ? speciosa’ LaLlave & Lex. and 
Bletia campanulata LaLlave & Lex., members of the 
Orchidaceae (7). 
The term peyote is used and understood by Indians 
and white men both in Mexico and the United States; 
consequently it has become the commercial term. Each 
tribe, however, possesses its own vernacular name for the 
cactus, although several plains tribes have adopted the 
name peyote as a naturalized word. 
Several etymologies have been proposed for this word, 
It has been suggested (88, 20) that peyote is derived from 
the Aztec pepeyoni® or pepeyon (‘to excite’’) or from 
peyona-nic (‘*to activate’’ or ‘‘to stimulate’’). 
Molina (18) derived peyote from the Aztee peyutl, 
which, freely rendered, means something soft, silky, and 
fluffy, like a cocoon or web.° The comparison of the silky 
tufts of matted hair on the crown of the cactus to cater- 
* : . . ; 
“Numbers in parentheses refer to the Bibliography. 
[ 62 ] 
