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San Pedro cactus

Echinopsis pachanoi

Cactaceae // stems

Also known as: Trichocereus pachanoi, wachuma, huachuma

Safety warning on record — see SafetyLegal status varies by jurisdiction — see Legal

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Uses & evidence

Uses and evidence recorded
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Preparation

No preparation information recorded

Safety

Safety cautions recorded
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Research

No linked research on file
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Overview

Plant parts

stems

Known constituents

mescaline, minor phenethylamines

Research corpus coverage

Ethnobotanical / entheogenicPet safety

Chemistry notes

  • Principal reported constituents include mescaline, minor phenethylamines; broad class: serotonergic psychedelic phenethylamine.

Uses & Evidence

Traditional / historical use

Documented traditional use — not a claim of established efficacy.

No traditional-use records in this corpus.

Modern evidence

  • Taxonomy within Echinopsis/Trichocereus is unsettled; E. peruviana and hybrids are often conflated.

    MODERATE · Natural or artificial: An example of topographic spatial distribution analysis of mescaline in cactus plants by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging

    Identity/attribution caution.

Safety

Human

  • High risk

    Safety severity is HIGH: prolonged psychological and autonomic effects; nausea; accident risk

    Intrinsic toxicity · HIGH · Natural or artificial: An example of topographic spatial distribution analysis of mescaline in cactus plants by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging

Additional safety notes (general, unstructured)

Free-text safety notes carried from their source — not broken out by species, route, or hazard type, and not equivalent to the structured records above. Each note names the kind of source it came from.

  • Safety severity is HIGH: prolonged psychological and autonomic effects; nausea; accident risk

    HIGH · Natural or artificial: An example of topographic spatial distribution analysis of mescaline in cactus plants by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging

Preparation × species risk matrix

Unknown means insufficient evidence was located — not that a form is safe.

Cats

  • tinctureCaution
  • concentrated extractUnknown
  • essential oilUnknown
  • glyceriteUnknown
  • infused oilUnknown
  • salveUnknown
  • smoke/combustionUnknown
  • tea/infusionUnknown
  • whole herbUnknown

Dogs

  • tinctureCaution
  • concentrated extractUnknown
  • essential oilUnknown
  • glyceriteUnknown
  • infused oilUnknown
  • salveUnknown
  • smoke/combustionUnknown
  • tea/infusionUnknown
  • whole herbUnknown

Identity

  • Synonym

    GBIF lists Cereus pachanoi (Britton & Rose) Werderm. as a taxonomic synonym of Trichocereus macrogonus.

    HIGH · GBIF Species Synonyms API

  • Former name

    GBIF treats the corpus name Echinopsis pachanoi (Britton & Rose) H.Friedrich & G.D.Rowley as a synonym and points to Trichocereus macrogonus as the accepted usage.

    MODERATE · GBIF Species Match API

Common name

Trichocereus pachanoi, wachuma, huachuma

Traditions

Andean curanderismo and archaeological ceremonial contexts

Peru and Ecuador // pre-Columbian iconography/archaeology and living practice // living tradition with historical evidence

  • Ethnobotanical

    San Pedro cactus is documented in Andean curanderismo and archaeological ceremonial contexts in Peru and Ecuador for healing, divination and night ceremony.

    MODERATE · Natural or artificial: An example of topographic spatial distribution analysis of mescaline in cactus plants by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging

  • Ritual

    Documented functions include healing, divinatory, visionary; these functions are tradition-specific and should not be generalized across cultures.

    MODERATE · Natural or artificial: An example of topographic spatial distribution analysis of mescaline in cactus plants by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging

Sources

Research records are source-linked but may not yet be editorially reviewed.