| | The genera of Cactaceae |
Peyote.
The plants condensed-cactoid; low and very compacted in their entirety. The stems not spiny; discoid to globose; 4–12 cm in diameter; apically depressed. The plants geophytic; unbranched; erect; solitary to clustering (often in clusters or mounds comprising numerous compacted stems); to 0.02–0.07 m high (4–12 cm in diameter). The stems not segmented; ribbed and grooved to not ribbed and grooved (the podaria sometimes more or less coalesced into broad, shallow ribs). The ribs 4–14; when present, longitudinal; low. The plants conspicuously tuberculate. The tubercles broad, low and rounded or humped. The tubercles connected by the ribs to not connected by ribs; borne in longitudinal series. The areoles associated with tubercles; distant; borne in longitudinal series; simple; woolly; without glochids; without spines. The mature stems leafless.
Flowering during the day. The flowers terminal; one per areole; shortly campanulate, or funnelform; sessile; small to medium-sized; 1–2.4 cm long; regular. The receptacle conspicuously produced beyond the ovary into a tubular hypanthium; naked. The hypanthial tube naked; without scales; spineless. The perianth white, or yellow, or red, or pink. The perianth segments spreading; pointed. Stamens few; adnate to the perianth (inserted in the tube); not exserted.
The mature fruit 1.5–2 cm long; ellipsoidal, or clavate; at maturity whitish brown, or pink (earlier); naked; non-fleshy when mature; indehiscent. The seeds 1–1.5 mm long; with a large hilum area, black; pyriform; not encased in bony arils. The testa tuberculate. Cotyledons reduced or vestigial.
Natural Distribution. Texas, northern and central Mexico.
Classification. 2 species. Subfamily Cactoideae. Tribe Cacteae.
Cf. Hunt (1967).
Images. • Lophophora williamsii, with Echinopsis aurea and Copiapoa coquimbana: Britton & Rose (1922). • Lophophora williamsii, with Ariocarpus retusus: Britton & Rose (1922).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2018 onwards. The genera of Cactaceae: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 14th November 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
