Lophophora williamsiiLophophora williamsii, also known as the Peyote, grow in Texas and Mexico. They are attractive spineless cacti with smallish pink flowers followed by brighter pink seed pods. They eventually form nice clumps adorned by their tufts of hairs.

Their fame, however, comes from the hallucinogenic properties of the mescalin they contain, the effects of which were known by the Aztecs. There appears to be an illicit market for these plants by hopeful, but disappointed, experimenters - the alkaloids do not develop in cultivation in the UK, so the only effects are likely to be from any insecticide which the plants might have encountered!
 

Photograph by : John Ellis
 
 

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