A cactus story

During a period of my life I had a big interest in psychoactive plants.

It seemed odd to me that they (some of them) were made illegal.

I read a lot about it.

I thought it was nonsense that human beings were prohibited to relate and be in presence of substances and plants. Knowing that there were things more harmful for others and for them.

No one was able to answer or address my perplexity.

Moving on, I thought and asked (me) how psychoactive subs. could have a strong effect on the mind, allow people to see, feel, experience different things, giving peaceful insights about life, make one be present in the world.

Sometimes fear and chaotic thoughts.

Where did psychedelics came from, providing so different experiences for different people, and how did it happened?

Two of the most distinct families of cacti, peyote and san pedro, are psychoactive to humans.

I was reading a book, and after this:

"Mescaline may be a step in a coevolutionary dance with the inhabitants of the desert, one that began long before the arrival of our species."

It began to make sense to me.

I found out that cacti are from South America, and about their reproductive ecology.

And then it struck me, along with bees, moths and hummingbirds, bats have an important role in cacti pollination (specially tubular and tall species with pale or white flowers).

Cacti are known to bloom at night.

Time when bats are active.

Bats, flying mammals, are the most related to us from the possible pollinators of cacti, and so I suppose the alkaloids present in them might influence both.

I searched more about the origins of bats, geologically (both in time and place), and the origins of cacti.

Mexican free-tailed bats gather literally by the millions and live exactly in the native place of peyote cactus, namely South-west Texas and Mexico. San Pedro lives along the Andes and Peru. The lifting of the Andes being the event thought to have originated the evolution of core cacti (where we find most of the species and families).

Finishing with this quote:

"Mescaline is one of the few chemicals produced by plants in a dose concentrated enough to alter profoundly the way we think, feel and perceive the world around us. For the cactus, though, these properties may have no particular significance. Alkaloids, it seems, have no single and simple function in plants. (...) they may have coevolved with insects and animals: acting as poisons or delirants for some and attractors for others, and thereby shaping the plants' habitat in their favour."

Sources

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/bats-as-pollinators.htm

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18831908 Peyote Image, De ShenHatarNoe - Trabajo propio, CC BY-SA 3.0

"Mescaline - A global History of the First Psychedelic" Jay Mike