A couple of weeks ago I found myself at Suzhou's cool Bird and Flower Market, basically an enormous open-air plant and pet market with a few other oddities thrown in. I was there for a Spring walk and to help a friend buy his first bonsai. (I'm a treeviate from way back, and know my way around a pair of Masakuni knob cutters...)
While nosing around the other stalls, I couldn't help but notice, to my startled amazement, a messenger from Mescalito:
This is peyote,
Lophophora williamsii. A native of the desert areas of Mexico and the American Southwest. What the Native Americans use (note present tense) when they want a direct conversation with God. Best-known natural source of mescaline. Very, very weird stuff indeed.
Especially among the other houseplants at a local plant market in East Central China.
I obviously couldn't leave this hazard out to threaten the public safety; as a professional I was obliged to make sure it was stored safely and securely. So, I bought it and brought it home. Around 20 kuai. It's put out a number of flowers since I had it; if another one comes I'll get a photo. You're only seeing a dry remnant of the blossom here.
I'll separate the 3 buds you see here and try to get more going. And yeah, maybe someday...
Or maybe not. This is pretty evil stuff to chew...