The peyote is a low-growing, solitary or often clumping button cactus with ribs (usually) but no spines. It is widespread and variable in the Chihuahuan Desert, from Texas south into north-central Mexico. Flowers are pink or pinkish white, sometimes red. The stem continues underground in the form of a tap root. This plant has a long history in ethnobotany. Its common name comes from the Nahuatl word peyotl for a caterpillar cocoon. It enjoys lots of sun, superior drainage, and relatively dry conditions in cultivation. It may flower at a few years of age (a couple of inches wide) and adjacent seedlings may flower in perfect unison for only 2-3 days of the year.

This is not the only member of the genus. L. diffusa grows in Querétaro. The recently separated L. fricii refers to plants with white to dark pink flowers and tuberculate stems from southwestern Coahuila. The differences between these 3 species are not great (beyond their disjunct geography), and several other varieties of the plant have been described.

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Range: southern Texas to northern Mexico. Additional info: cut, dried "buttons" of Peyote, when chewed, produce color hallucinations and are important in certain Indian religious ceremonies. A federal permit is required to possess any part of the plant. In Texas the cactus has almost been eliminated, but in areas of Mexico is still very common.

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