Trichocereus

Trichocereus is the name genus of flowering plants in the Cactaceae family. Cactaceae is the botanical name of the family, the common name is the cactus family. Most people refer to all members of the Cactaceae family simply as cactus plants. The words cacti or cactuses can be used to describe more than one cactus plant. All species of plants in the Trichocereus genus originated in South America. Many species can still be found growing wild in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru. Mescaline is the primary chemical that produces psychoactive effects. Other chemicals produced by cacti in the Trichocereus genus include candicine, hordenine, and trichocerine. Some of these (and other chemicals) present in Trichocereus cacti have psychoactive properties of their own. Because the amount of each chemical varies by species, ingesting cacti from one species of Trichocereus that contains mescaline will produce results that are similar, yet not exactly the same, as ingesting cacti from a different species. Even if both species contained the same amount of mescaline. Even species of Trichocereus with lesser amounts of mescaline may be psychoactive if other active chemicals are available in sufficient quantity. Although the level of intoxication may not be as deep, when compared to species with a larger mescaline content. The mescaline content in dried Trichocereus pachanoi (san pedro) can reach to about 2%, maybe a little more. Another species that contains mescaline is Trichocereus bridgesii, also known as Echinopsis lageniformis and Bolivian torch cactus. Trichocereus bridgesii has a mescaline content somewhere in the same range as Trichocereus pachanoi, some individual plants may have a bit more or a bit less. Other species in the genus have a lesser amount of mescaline than Trichocereus pachanoi and Trichocereus bridgesii. The peyote cactus (botanical name Lophophora williamsii) grows wild in Mexico and the southern USA. It is the only known natural source of larger concentrations of mescaline, than cacti in the Trichocereus genus. The mescaline content in dried samples of Lophophora williamsii can reach 6%. However, Lophophora williamsii is a slow growing cactus that takes long to get large enough to be worth using a source of mescaline. You can obtain more mescaline, in a shorter amount of time, by growing certain species of Trichocereus, than you would if you grew Lophophora williamsii.