ABSTRACT

The star cactus, Astrophytum asterias (Zuccarini) Lemaire (Cactaceae), is a federally listed endangered cactus endemic to the Tamaulipan thornscrub ecoregion of extreme southern Texas, USA, and Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Only two subpopulations totaling about 2,000 plants are presently known in Texas. Star cactus, known locally as “star peyote”, is highly prized by collectors. This small, dome-shaped cactus is spineless and thus is sometimes mistaken for peyote (Lophophora williamsii), which grows in the same or adjacent habitats. Peyote is harvested from native thornscrub habitats in Texas by local Hispanic people and sold to peyoteros, licensed distributors who sell the peyote to Native American Church members. <h4class=”thin-font” style=”text-align: left;”>Annual peyote harvests in Texas approach 2,000,000 “buttons” (crowns). Although the peyoteros do not buy star cactus from harvesters, they cultivate star cactus in peyote gardens at their places of business and give star cacti to their customers as lagniappe. If even 0.1% of harvested peyote is actually star cactus, the annual take of this endangered cactus approaches the total number of wild specimens known in the U.S.

Acknowledgements

This work would not be possible without the collaboration of the Texas peyote distributors who generously allowed us to visit their businesses and discussed the peyote harvest with us, and the observations of the local people who shared their observations of “star peyote”. We thank Guadalupe Martinez (Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas), Keeper Trout, Benito Trevino, Gena Janssen, Lesle Peloquin (Texas Department of Public Safety), Jackie Poole (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department), Bill Carr and Lisa Williams (The Nature Conservancy of Texas), and Chris Best (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) for inspiration, information and observations on star cactus and peyote in the field.

lITERATURE CITED

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