Living Rock

Ariocarpus fissuratus (Engelmann) K. Schumann
Cactaceae (Cactus Family)

Living rock is a small cactus that grows to a diameter of six inches, and barely rises above the surface of the ground. It yellows with age and its shape is characterized by triangular tubercles. Instead of spines, the cactus has wooly areoles that occur continually along the central axis of each tubercle. This species of Ariocarpus grows in the United States from the Lower Pecos Canyonlands to the Big Bend, and into Mexico throughout much of Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Durango (Anderson 2001). Living rock is known to have had medicinal and ritual uses. See Cheatham et al. (1995) for additional discussion of its distribution and uses.

The cactus does not grow within the current region occupied by the Tarahumara, but it does grow very close to the Tarahumara's eastern occupations as noted in the 17th Century (Pennington 1963). It was apparently obtained from regions around Ojinaga at the mouth of the Rio Conchos, and Jimenez in eastern Chihuahua. The Tarahumara also reportedly collected the cactus from the area around Camargo near the middle Rio Conchos and the present Presa de la Boquilla, north of Jimenez (Bye 1979; Pennington 1963).

Archeological occurrence. A living rock cactus was recovered from Analysis Unit 5, a Middle Archaic context at Hinds Cave (Dering 1979). Irving (1966) reported living rock from Eagle Cave (41VV167). The recovery of this cactus from at least two recorded contexts, and its presence in private collections from uncontrolled excavations in other rockshelters suggests that the cactus was used rather frequently by the inhabitants of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. But for what purpose?

Chemical composition. Ariocarpus fissuratus contains small quantities of hordenine and other phenylethylamine alkaloids, but does not contain mescaline (as sometimes suggested). Hordenine has reputed antibacterial qualities and apparently activates the release of norepinephrine in humans. It is a phenylethylamine alkaloid with apparent effects on the sympathetic nervous system, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, and may be a vasoconstrictor. Some of the reported applications of living rock are consistent with these properties. Several halluncinogenic cacti contain much larger quantities of hordenine, including peyote, Peruvian torch cactus, and San Pedro cactus. Unlike these three cacti, which all contain mescaline, living rock is not known to contain any hallucinogenic or psychoactive compounds (Anderson 2001).

Medicine. Lumholtz noted that living rock was one of three cacti considered by the Tarahumara to be psychoactive (Bye 1979; Lumholtz 1902). These were living rock, peyote, and Epithelantha (button cactus). However, 60 years later Pennington (1963) could not confirm the use of living rock as a psychoactive plant, and noted that it only played a minor part in festivals. Subsequent chemical analysis confirmed that living rock lacked truly psychoactive constituents.

Pennington did, however, note three specific applications for the plant. It is brewed into a tea and consumed by runners in preparation for their long distance racing competition. Lumholtz also reported that it was used by runners. The cactus is also cut into fragments and chewed by runners. The body of the cactus chewed and applied as a poultice to bruises, bites and wounds. These applications would be consistent with the chemical properties of hordenine as both a stimulant and a substance that constricts blood vessels.

His informants also said that living rock was added to tesgüino, a fermented drink made from sprouted corn kernels. The kernels are moistened, kept in the dark, and sprouts allowed to grow several inches in a process called malting (Pennington 1963). The malted kernels contain fermentable sugars.

Therefore, living rock would have been considered a power plant, or a plant with healing power. It may have been used in both medicinal and ceremonial contexts, and in fact those contexts may have operated together.

References:

Anderson, Edward F.
2001  The Cactus Family. Timber Press. Portland, Oregon.

Bye, Robert A., Jr.
1979  Hallucinogenic Plants of the Tarahumara. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 1:23-48.

Cheatham, Scooter, Marshall C. Johnson, and Lynn Marshall
1995  The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico, Volume 1. Useful Wild Plants, Austin, Texas.

Dering, J. Philip
1979  Pollen and Plant Macrofossil Vegetation Record Recovered from Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished Masters Thesis. Texas A&M University. College Station, Texas.

Irving, Robert S.
1966  A Preliminary Analysis of Plant Remains from Six Amistad Reservoir Sites. In A Preliminary Study of the Paleoecology of the Amistad Reservoir Area, ed. by Dee Ann Story and V. M. Bryant, Jr., pp. 61-90. National Science Foundation Final Report (GS-667).

Lumholtz, Carl
1902  Unkown Mexico. Scribner's. New York.

Martinez, Maximino
1969  Las Plantas Medicinales de Mexico. Quinta Edicion. Ediciones Botas. Mexico, D.F.

Pennington, Campbell W.
1963  The Tarahumara of Mexico: Their Environment and Material Culture. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

1969  The Tepehuan of Chihuahua: Their Material Culture. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.