In the deserts of the New World, cacti may be one of the few sources of hydration for animals. Most plants have sharp thorns or spines to protect their succulent bodies. But the peyote cactus appears to have traded prickliness for a powerful psychedelic alkaloid, mescaline. There is no known peyote predator except man in search of visions. Some suspect soma, the Indian elixir of immortality, ‘creator of the Gods’, to be a plant, although its identity remains shrouded in mystery.
