San Pedro Cactus

Echinopsis pachanoi is a fast-growing columnar cactus of the Andes, one of several kinds of cacti known as San Pedro cactus. It is native to Ecuador and Peru, is also found in Bolivia, Colombia, central Chile, the Canary Islands and mainland Spain, and is widely grown as an ornamental. It has been used for healing and religious divination in the Andes for over 3,000 years, and archaeological evidence of use goes back two thousand years to the Moche, Nazca and Chavín cultures. Its names include achuma, huachuma and wachuma. The Spanish tried to suppress its use and failed, as the Christian name San Pedro, Saint Peter, shows. In Peruvian shamanism, healers boil the spineless cactus into a bitter drink called cimora, often mixed with tobacco, to gain vision, diagnose illness and cleanse spirits. It contains mescaline, from 0.053 per cent up to 4.7 per cent of dry weight. In 2022 the Peruvian Ministry of Culture declared its traditional use in northern Peru cultural heritage.