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,
Hallucinogenic plants in Chinese herbals "Amanita muscaria" "fly agaric" and "xiaojun" "laughing mushrooms". Based on Tang dynasty and Song dynasty references, they tentatively identify it as a "Panaeolus" or "Pholiota" and suggest that the properties of at least some psychoactive mushrooms were widely known. They predict the further exploration of hallucinogenic fungi and other plants in Daoism and in Chinese culture in general "will be an exciting task" (1974: 121). Hallucinogenic plants in Chinese herbals For over two millennia, texts in Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine have recorded medicinal plants that are also hallucinogens and psychedelics. Some are familiar psychoactive plants in Western herbal