932 CONTRIBUTIONS FEOM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



This species was first collected by Karwinsky, who sent to Germany three 

 plants of it about 1840. One of these plants is said to have been sold for 

 1,000 francs. 



3. Ariocarpus fissuratus (Engelm.) Schum. in Engl. & Prantl, Pflanzenfam. 

 36a: 195. 1894. 



Mammillaria fissurata Engelm. Proc. Amer. Acad. 3: 270. 1850. 



Anhalonium fisswatum Engelm. U. S. & Mex. Bound. Cact. 75. 1859. 



Ariocarpus lloydii Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 13: 308. 1911. 



Coahuila and Zacatecas. Western Texas, the type collected near the mouth 

 of the Pecos River. 



Plant body scarcely appearing above the ground, flat or somewhat rounded, 

 sometimes 15 cm. broad ; tubercles imbricate, ovate, the upper part 2 to 3 

 cm. broad at base, acute or obtuse, the whole surface more or less fissured 

 and iri*egularly warty ; areoles filled with a dense mass of hairs ; flowers 3 

 to 4 cm. broad, white to purple; inner perianth segments oblong-oblanceolate ; 

 fruit oval, pale green, 10 mm. long; seeds black, tuberculate-roughened. 

 "Chaute," "chautle," "peyote cimarr6n." 



The name " peyote " is said to be sometimes incorrectly applied to this 

 species. 



27. LOPHOPHORA Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 131. 1894. 

 A single species is known. 



1. Lophophora williamsii (Lem.) Coulter, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 131. 1894. 



Echinocactus williamsii Lem.; Salm-Dyck, Allg. Gartenz. 13: 385. 1845. 



Anhalonium williamsii Lem. ; Forst. Handb. Cact. ed. 2. 233. 1885. 



Anhalonium lexcinii Hennings, Gartenflora 37: 410. 1888. 



Lophophora lewinii Thompson, Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: 133. 1898. 



Central and eastern Mexico. Southern Texas. 



Plants dull bluish green, globular to top-shaped or somewhat flattened at top, 

 5 to 8 cm. broad, with a thickened tap-root sometimes 10 cm. long or more; 

 ribs 7 to 13, nearly vertical or irregular and indistinct, tubercled ; flowers cen- 

 tral, each surrounded by a mass of long hair, in color pale pink to white, 

 2.5 cm. broad when fully open, with a broad funnelform tube; outer perianth 

 segments nearly white ; style white below, pinkish above, shorter than the 

 perianth segments; stigma lobes 5, linear, pinkish; ovary naked; fruit 2 cm. 

 long or less ; seeds 1 cm. in diameter, with a broad basal hilum. " Peyote " ; 

 "hikuli" (Huichol and Tarahumare) ; "kamaba" (Tepehuane, Ochoterena) ; 

 "sefif," "wokowi" (Quer§taro, Ramirez). 



This is a well-known plant in Mexico, and an account of it was published by 

 Sahagfm in the sixteenth century. The peyote contains a narcotic substance 

 that has been the subject of much study with regard to its chemical and phy- 

 siological properties. The name anhalonin has been given to a supposed alka- 

 loid separated from the plant, but other persons claim that the narcotic prop- 

 erties are due to the presence of certain resinous bodies. 



The dried plants have been in use among the native people since precolum- 

 bian times, and are still employed, although their use is forbidden by law. 

 Eating a piece of the dried plant results in remarkable visions and hallucina- 

 tions, and the general effects are somewhat like those resulting from the use of 

 hashish.* 



* See Manuel Urbina, El peyote y el ololiuhqui, Anal. Mus. Nac. M6x. 7 : 25- 

 48. pi. 1. 1900. 



