Mescaline Mexico. Europeans noted use of peyote in Native American religious ceremonies upon early contact, notably by the Huichols in Mexico. Other mescaline-containing cacti such as the San Pedro have a long history of use in South America, from Peru to Ecuador. In traditional peyote preparations, the top of the cactus is cut off, leaving the large tap root along with a ring of green photosynthesizing area to grow new heads. These heads are then dried to make disc-shaped buttons. Buttons are chewed to produce the effects or soaked in water to drink. However, the taste of the cactus is bitter,
1000 Plant Genomes Project selection of other species to fill in gaps and explain some unknown evolutionary relationships of the current plant phylogeny. In addition to industrial compound biosynthetic capacity, plant species known or suspected to produce medically active chemicals (such as poppies producing opiates) were assigned a high priority to better understand the synthesis process, explore commercial production potential, and discover new pharmaceutical options. A large number of plant species with medicinal properties have been selected from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The largely completed list of selected species can be publicly viewed at [www.onekp.com/samples/list.php]. Rather than sequencing the entire genome (all DNA sequence)