Mescaline | What Is It Made Of?
What Is It Made Of?
Mescaline-producing plants grow in only a few areas of the world. The word "mescaline" refers to the active ingredient in the plants that causes the hallucinogenic effects. However, it is often used as a name for the plants as a whole, or for the parts of the plants that are eaten, in whatever way they may be prepared. The two main sources of mescaline are both members of the plant family Cactaceae. They are the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) and the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi). The peyote cactus is by far the best known of the mescaline plants, so much so that the word peyote is often used to mean any type of mescaline.
The true peyote cactus is a gray-green or blue-green plant. It grows close to the ground and looks something like a small cushion divided up into sections that are called podarea. The podarea are arranged around a center piece that has a woolly look to it, as it is made up of tufted hairs called trichomes. Unlike other cacti, it does not have sharp, prickly spines to protect itself.
The peyote cactus grows naturally in an area stretching from southern Texas to southern Mexico. There are a few variations of Lophophora williamsii, including Echinocactus williamsii and Lophophora echinata var. diffusa. A close relative of peyote, the cactus Lophophora diffusa grows only in the dry region of Queretaro, Mexico, in the central part of the country. It is yellow-green in color, has a fleshier body than the peyote cactus, and lacks the well-defined podarea.
Slow Growing
The peyote is one of the slowest-growing of all cacti. A plant is not considered mature until it is about thirteen years old. If it reaches the age of thirty, it will still be only about the size of a baseball. The Native Americans call a plant of this size and age "Father Peyote" or "Grandfather Peyote." Usually, a peyote cactus must grow for at least four years before it will produce even one "button," or dime-sized section on its top. It is the button that is cut off and eaten for the hallucinogenic effects. The name of the plant is thought to come from either a Nahuatl word, pi-youtl, which means "silk cocoon" or "caterpillar cocoon," or from the Mexican word piule, which simply means "hallucinogenic plant."
The San Pedro cactus looks quite different from the peyote. It does have prickly spines, and it grows in tall columns, sometimes reaching as high as twenty feet. It originated in the mountain regions of Peru and Ecuador, but has become widespread, because it is often sold as an ornamental plant. Like the peyote cactus, the San Pedro has some close relatives within its Trichocereus family that contain hallucinogenic compounds.
Numbers Declining
Although these psychoactiveMind-altering; a psychoactive substance alters the user's mental state or changes one's behavior. cacti all contain between forty to sixty alkaloids, or nitrogen-containing compounds, mescaline is the only alkaloid among them that is known to cause hallucinations. The
amount of mescaline in a cactus depends on the maturity of the plant. On average, a peyote cactus might contain about 4 percent mescaline. It can be extracted from the plant, and in its pure form, it is crystalline.
Mescaline can also be artificially produced in a laboratory. Pure mescaline, either extracted or manufactured, is extremely rare, however, because it is very expensive to produce. Therefore, almost all mescaline used is in the form of peyote buttons, or material from one of the other mescaline-producing plants. The number of peyote cacti is declining, in part because of the development of roads and buildings in the places where the plants grow naturally.