Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Pictographs record peyote use of earliest Texans

There is well-documented archaeological evidence indicating prehistoric peyote use, including pictographs and ancient peyote specimens found in caves and rock shelters in the lower Pecos River region of Texas. Anthropologist and archaeologist Dr. Carolyn E. Boyd has argued that the Lower Pecos pictographs provide the earliest record of peyotism.

Peyote pictograph at the White Shaman site

The above picture is Carolyn Boyd's rendering of the murals at the White Shaman site. The original rock art panel is high on a bluff overlooking the Pecos River. According to Boyd it depicts the hunt for sacred peyote, a powerful medicinal and sacramental plant. She also interprets it as a ritual re-enactment of the first pilgrimage that led to the birth of gods, the establishment of the seasons and the creation of the cosmos.

The following snippet of text is taken from a recent article on the pictographs at the Mystic Shelter site.


Boyd thinks these murals were inspired by visions the people experienced during trances brought on by the hallucinogen peyote. Some depict a warrior's journey to the "Otherworld." Some describe the hunt for the sacred peyote cactus and how the cosmos was put into place.

"The rock art panels are pictorial narratives of mytho-historical events - like putting the Old Testament creation story or Passover rituals into a visual format rather than textual," Boyd says.

The artists were hunter-gatherers, and lived in an extremely arid environment where deer were prized. Yet they used valuable fat from deer bones to make paint, illustrating the importance of the artwork in their culture, Boyd says. The murals - explosions of orange, red, yellow and black - would have jumped out from the daily landscape of brown, green and gray.

"It must have been spectacular," she says. "Can you imagine the impact that would have?

The record is still in the rock.

Surviving murals are found in rock shelters throughout the Lower Pecos region, where they were protected from rain, sun and wind. According to radiocarbon dating, most, including the ones at Mystic Shelter, were made 2,950 to 4,200 years ago. More sites are still being discovered.

If you (like me;-) dream of having a closer look at the pictographs the Shumla School arranges rock art field trips allowing you to examine the incredible imagery at first hand.


Shumla School participants investigating the pictographs at Mystic Shelter, one of Texas's best sites for prehistoric art.

References
Carolyn E. Boyd, J. Philip Bering (1996), “Medicinal and hallucinogenic plants identified in the sediments and pictographs of the Lower Pecos, Texas Archaic”, Antiquity 70, 256-275

Pictographs, petroglyphs on rocks record beliefs of earliest Texans (austin360.com)

Shumla School

Rock Art Gallery

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Flowering Lophophora koehresii

Flowering Lophophora koehresii; close-up
Flowering Lophophora koehresii; close-up

Back in August this year my grafted Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí) flowered for the first time.

Flowering Lophophora koehresii grafted on Trichocereus pachanoi stock
Flowering Lophophora koehresii grafted on Trichocereus pachanoi stock

Despite the difference in size of the two Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii scions in the above photo they were both started as part of the same batch of seeds March 3, 2007. The largest of the scions was grafted June 7, 2007 and when the Trichocereus pachanoi stock grew an offset I grafted another seedling on it May 5, 2008.

Flowering Lophophora koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí)
Flowering Lophophora koehresii (RS 1182; El Sabino, San Luis Potosí)

Lophophora diffusa var. koehresii is described as being of smaller size than the other Lophophora species (possibly with the exception of the newly described Lophophora alberto-vojtechii), and having a dark green epidermis and pinkish-white flowers with a light brownish mid stripe. The flower and epidermis of my plant fit the description while it might be difficult to say anything useful about size as the plant is grafted. As mentioned above the plant is still very young but I'll watch it closely as it matures.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Flowering Gymnocalycium calochlorum

One more flowering cactus of the summer past. I don't have many Gymnocalycium plants in my collection but find the ones I have quite interesting – especially the large flowers and the naked calyx are fascinating (the genus name Gymnocalycium comes from the Greek for "naked calyx").

Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds
Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds

I bought this Gymnocalycium calochlorum (Mina Clavero, Córdoba, Argentina) a couple of years ago and it has been growing in my coldhouse since. It is coping well in this environment and is showing off a wealth of flowers each summer.

Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds; close-up
Gymnocalycium calochlorum flower buds; close-up

The pale pink flowers with the burgundy throat are quite beautiful and almost hide the plant.

Flowering Gymnocalycium calochlorum
Flowering Gymnocalycium calochlorum

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Flowering Matucana madisoniorum

I was sorting out my photos and found a few pictures of plants that flowered this summer.

Flowering Matucana madisoniorum
Flowering Matucana madisoniorum

This Matucana madisoniorum plant was bought earlier in the summer from Kakteen-Haage to experiment with growing it in my coldhouse. The species is said to be pretty cold-tender so the chances for survival are probably not the best - it would be sad, though, not to see it display its beautiful orange-red flower again.

Flowering Matucana madisoniorum - close-up
Flowering Matucana madisoniorum – close-up

The species was originally described as Borzicactus madisoniorum by Hutchison in the journal of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America (vol 35 (6), pp. 167-172) and later transferred to the genus Matucana. The description was accompanied by the plate below.


Plate description: Borzicactus madisoniorum. Composite plate by May Bios, 1958, from different plants under cultivation, all of the type collection. 1, 2. Apical views of spiny and spineless plants. 3. Lateral view of flower. 4. Apical view of flower. 5. Longitudinal section of flower. 6. Stigma. 7. Funicles. 8. Ripe fruit. 9. Dried fruit. 10. Lateral view of seed. 11. Bottom view of seed. 12. Lateral view of seed, the dotted lines showing the extent of invagination of the hilum. 1-5, 8, 9, natural size. 6, x 4.5.10, 11, x 70. 7, greatly enlarged.

Matucana madisoniorum has its natural habitat in Amazonas, Peru with a very limited distribution, it has been heavily collected and faces an unknown future in the wild.

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