''Ariocarpus fissuratus'' (formerly known as ''Anhalonium fissuratus'') is a species of

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

found in small numbers in northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Common names include living rock cactus, false peyote, chautle, dry whiskey and star cactus.

Description

This cactus consists of many small

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

s growing from a large

tap root A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

. They are usually solitary, rarely giving rise to side

shoot In botany, a plant shoot consists of any plant stem together with its appendages, leaves and lateral buds, flowering stems, and flower buds. The new growth from seed germination that grows upward is a shoot where leaves will develop. In the spri ...

s from old

areole In botany, areoles are small light- to dark-colored bumps on cacti out of which grow clusters of spines. Areoles are important diagnostic features of cacti, and identify them as a family distinct from other succulent plants. Gordon Rowley - W ...

s. The plant is greyish-green in color, sometimes taking on a yellowish tint with age. Its growth rate is extremely slow. ''A. fissuratus'' is naturally camouflaged in its habitat, making it difficult to spot. When they are found, it is usually due to their pinkish flowers which bloom in October and early November.

Cultivation

In cultivation, ''Ariocarpus fissuratus'' is often

grafted Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...

to a faster-growing columnar cactus to speed growth, as they would generally take at least a decade to reach maturity on their own. They require very little water and fertilizer, a good amount of light, and a loose sandy soil with good drainage.

Poaching

Tens of thousands of this protected Texas cacti are annually removed Illegally. Poaching has even extended to Big Bend National Park. Smugglers have taken entire populations of A. fissuratus, primarily for collectors, mainly in Europe and Asia. Loss of such a wide range of genetic variation weakens the species' chances of future survival. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the cactus is protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (

CITES CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...

).U.S. Attorney’s Office El Paso Man Pleads Guilty to Role in Scheme to Sell Protected Cacti" https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdtx/pr/el-paso-man-pleads-guilty-role-scheme-sell-protected-cacti ' Department of Justice '', June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.

Psychoactivity

''Ariocarpus fissuratus'' is a unique species in that it has been used by Native American tribes as a mind-altering substance, usually only as a substitute for peyote.Ratsch, C: "The Sun", page 67. Park Street Press, 2005 While it does not contain

mescaline Mescaline or mescalin (3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine) is a naturally occurring psychedelic protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin. Biological sou ...

like species such as

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar cocoon", from a root , "to gl ...

, it has been found to contain other centrally active substances, such as ''N''-methyltyramine and

hordenine Hordenine is an alkaloid of the phenethylamine class that occurs naturally in a variety of plants, taking its name from one of the most common, barley (''Hordeum'' species). Chemically, hordenine is the ''N''-methyl derivative of ''N''-methyltyra ...

, albeit in doses too small to be active.

Notes

References

Ratsch, C. (2005). The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants: Ethnopharmocology and its Applications, Vermont: Park Street Press.

External links

* *
Living-rocks.com
{{Taxonbar, from=Q138341 fissuratus Cacti of Mexico Cacti of the United States Flora of Chihuahua (state) Flora of Coahuila Flora of Durango Flora of San Luis Potosí Flora of Texas Flora of Zacatecas Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Plants described in 1894 Taxa named by George Engelmann Garden plants of North America