peyote

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peyote

plant

Also known as: Lophophora williamsii, mescal-button

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 • Article History

peyote

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Also called:: mescal button

Related Topics:: peyote music; Mescalero; mescaline

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peyote, (Lophophora williamsii), species of hallucinogenic cactus (family Cactaceae). Peyote is found only on limestone soils of the Chihuahuan desert of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Averaging about eight centimetres (three inches) wide and five centimetres (two inches) tall, the body of the peyote cactus is spineless, soft, and, in most cases, blue-green to gray-green in colour. Extremely slow growing, it can take 10–30 years for the plant to mature before flowering. It has pink to white flowers in summer, and the fruit ripens the following year. Peyote is well known for its hallucinogenic effects; the plant contains at least ...(100 of 238 words)

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