Natural Populations of Peyote in Decline

Peyote is a native of the Chihuahan Desert, specifically, portions of the Rio Grande Valley in Southern Texas, and south as far as the state of San Luis Potosi in Mexico. Peyote has been an item of commerce for a very long time. Most recently (just over 100 years) it has been commercially harvested in the state of Texas, though its sale is now restricted by law to members of the Native American Church (NAC). It is estimated that the NAC has at least 250,000 members. Thus, the estimated annual harvest of individual plants, or buttons, must be in the millions.

When properly harvested, several new heads tend to form from the old root, thereby generating new plants for the future. Unfortunately, plants are often cut too deeply, leaving little or no root remaining in the ground. In addition to commercial harvesting, landowners are uprooting large sections of the peyote gardens in Texas to plant grass for cattle. Consequently, the areas in which peyote may be found are disappearing. Regions where peyote once flourished in commercially harvestable quantities are now very often lacking this cactus entirely.

The Peyote Foundation believes that an effort to establish a conservation program is long overdue. While we encourage preservation efforts in its native habitat, we also feel it is the responsibility of those people who honor the divine cactus to grow it. This is a tangible way of establishing a close relationship with the plant while helping to preserve the genetic diversity and well-being of the species. We hope to establish a seed fund which would be used to purchase seeds from licensed peyote dealers. This seed would be propagated by TPF for either, eventual re-planting in the wild, or for future sacramental use.

Eventually, Texas dealers might agree upon a means of allowing certain feilds to be set aside for a period of time, unharvested, on a rotation basis. This would help allow sufficient time for young peyotes to mature and establish stable populations rather than being harvested in an immature state, as is so often the case at present. TPF does not encourage continued non-sustainable harvesting in the wild. We do recommend that as much commercially harvested, fresh peyote as possible be re-rooted and cultivated rather than consumed. These plants will hopefully provide seeds and offsets for future generations.

Recommended Reading:

Morgan G.R., "The Biography of Peyote in South Texas," Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University, 1983: 29(2), 73-86.

Anderson, E.F., "The Peyote Gardens of South Texas- A Conservation Crisis?", Cacti and Succulent Journal, (Vol 67) March 1995.

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