Lophophora fricii

Lophophora fricii Habermann

Vlastimil Habermann (1975Kaktusy (Brno), 10: 123, as Lophophora fricii.

 

Most people who have studied peyote recognize this as an accepted species. The IPNI still lists it as an unresolved name. Someday that will change.

Lophophora-fricii-EricPhillips-c

Lophophora fricii from Quality Cactus

 

Reported to contain trace amounts of mescaline.

 
Lophophora-fricii-ParrasdelaFuente-Coahuila-flowering-d

Lophophora fricii from Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila flowering

Japanese name: Ginkangyoku

Origin: Limestone hills and soils near San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico.  

Habitat: There are two wild forms of Lophophora fricii occurring some miles (~20) apart from each other.

One is a montane form that does not have as many offsets or form as large of planchas as the second one. It also tends to be flatter and look almost melted.

Lophophora-fricii-montane-CCI

Lophophora fricii montane form

The second one grows in silt flats and forms large clumps.
There is a photo said to be from Fric in 1924 and published in 1925 which is an article that I have not yet obtained. Images of that photo appearing online look very much like a single crown from the image below.

Lophophora-fricii-flats-CCI

Lophophora fricii in habitat in silt flats

Associated plants

A detailed list does not appear to exist yet for either population. The following can be observed in CCI photographs online:

Agave spp., Echinocereus stramineus, Jatropha dioica,, Larrea tridentata, Opuntia rufida & a Prosopis sp.

Lophophora fricii species nova Habermann

Corpus molle est coloris opace griseo-viridis usque subfulvi, plano globosum, cum apice modice depresso, ad 8 cm altum et ad 12 cm diametiens, solitarium, partim proliferans, cum radice rapiformi.
Costae humiles numero 8-14, iam ab apice evidentes, modice spiraliter tortae, 15-20 mm latae, evidenti fissura recta fere dividuntur. Podaria in costis fissuris saepe male evidentibus dividuntur. Areolae rotundae, 3 mm diametientes, 8-15 mm inter se distant, spinis vacant, sed fasciculos densos pilorum sericorum alborum ad 15 mm longos ferunt; in areolis veteribus partim circumrasae sunt. Pili formant in vertice tegumen densum, ex quo flores carmineorubri efficiuntur. Flores apicales, infundibuliformes, ad 25 mm longi et ad 25 mm diametientes. Pericarpellum nudum, subviride, tubus brevis, infundibuliforma dilatatur. Phylla perigonii exteriora lanceolata cum acumine firmo, externe fusco brunneo. Phylla perigonii interiora lanceolata plerumque in duabus seriebus, cum margine integro, 3-4 mm lata, 15 mm longa, coloris carmineorubri, cum paulo fusciore stria media. Stylus albus, 8-10 mm longus, cum stigmatibus 5 albis. Stamina multa, alba, cum antheris flavis, que stylo breviora sunt. Fructus carmineus, ad 20 mm longus, 4 mm latus, claviformis, nudus, cum residu.is siccatis perianthi in cauda. Semina galeriformia, 1,5 mm longa, 1,2 mm lata, cum hila basali alba in V-forman compresso. Funiculus in medio cavernae positus, micropyllum in rostratestae prope hilum evidens est. Testa glauca, nigra, tuberculis ovalibus tecta, que in vicinitate hili minuuntur. Embryon oviforme, modice applanatum, cum perispermio adiacenti.

Habermann 1974b

 
Lophophora-fricii-ParrasdelaFuente-Coahuila-flowering-c

Lophophora fricii from Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila flowering

Differuntur a L. williamsii colore corporis griseo-viridi usque subfulvo, forma costarum, flore carmineorubro, seminibus cum testa asperiore et hilo in V -forma depresso.

Lophophora-fricii-LasParras-epidermisclose

Lophophora fricii from Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila epidermis

Lophophora fricii Habermann

Habermann’s description gave stems as solitary or scarcely branching but its clear that nice clumps exist in the wild.

The crown is depressed-globose, with a sunken apex, reaching 12 (or more) cm. in diameter, and up to 8 cm. high.

Possesses large and fusiform (spindle-shaped) roots.

Epidermis is gray yellowish-green; 14 ribs (and more), areoles are nearly circular, 2-3 mm in diameter, 8-15 mm. apart, with tufts of dense, silky white hairs, without spines (a few miniature spines present in young seedlings only, soon breaking off); flowers from areoles near the apex of the stem, 25 mm long, 25 mm. in diameter, pelicarp naked, greenish; short tube, funnelform, pink, outer segments of pelianth oblanceolate, with greenish mid-stripe, inner segments oblanceolate, margin entire, 3-4 mm. broad, 15 mm. long, deep carmine red and velvet sheen; style white, stigma lobes 5, white; anthers yellow, filaments white, stamens shorter than style; fruit clavate, bare, with dried perianth remains, 20 mm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, red; seed black, papillate, 1.5 mm. long, 1.2 mm broad, hilum broad, V-shaped, micropylar aperture at rostrum close to the hilum; embryo ovoid. Mexico, Coahuila, limestone soils in the desert near San Pedro.
Holotype no. L-5.

Lophophora fricii is said to differ from Lophophora williamsii due to its larger size, a higher number of ribs, the color of the stem, and due to the color and sheen of the flowers.

Habermann commented that it was the only Lophophora that has seed with a V-shaped hilum. (L. alberto-vojtechii was later found to possess this feature as well.) “V-shaped” might need to be better, or at least more narrowly, defined as L. williamsii can also be said to have a v-shaped hilum. (See the hilum of the seeds in this L. williamsii image.)

Lophophora-fricii-seedling

Lophophora fricii seedling grown from Koehres seeds

Frič had found this plant and published a photograph in 1924 as Anhalonium sp. fl. rosea Frič. In Kreuzinger 1935 the image had become a rose-colored flower form of L. williamsii

Lophophora-decipiens_insert_fricii_B_1_5wide

A.V. Fric’s photograph

Drawn primarily from Habermann with additional comments based on imagery from the CactusConservation.com website.

Useful search terms for locating additional imagery online:

银冠玉(Lophophora fricii

白花銀冠玉(Lophophora fricii f. albiflora

银冠玉缀化(Lophophora fricii f. cristata

 

Lophophora-fricii-EricPhillips-b

Lophophora fricii from Quality Cactus

 

Lophophora fricii Habermann
[Published in Habermann 1974b & 1975a]
Grey-green skin. Carmine red flowers. (None of the flowers encountered, in either pictures or specimens of plants presented as this species, have been carmine)
Collected in vicinity of San Pedro in Coahuila, Mexico by Denis “Dennis” Cowper.
Habermann 1974b [Thought by Habermann to be the red flowered species that Fric described but this was assumed based on locality, flower color and Fric’s photograph.]

Alberto V. Frič discovered Lophophora fricii during his 1923-1924 travels in  the U.S. and Mexico. Frič had referred to it as “Anhalonium sp. flora rosea.” in a photograph published in 1924. In 1935, he changed the name in the photograph to L. williamsii which may underlie the very commonly held notion that L. fricii is a synonym of L. williamsii

Habermann said that a few of Frič’s original collection survived the transport to Czechoslovakia but was not clear about what became of them or how he knew about them.

Roman Štarha analyzed a specimen of both Lophophora fricii and sp. Viesca with very similar results.

Fric had commented that the plants were quite large, reaching 40 cm in diameter, and possessing 13-21 ribs. He gave their place of occurrence as the southern slopes of limestone hills of the Sierra Bola, near San Pedro in Coahuila, Mexico.

Using that information, Cowper was able to rediscover a few plants at the same locality mentioned by Frič. It was those specimens that were used by Habermann for his description of L. fricii.

Fric, Cowpwer & Habermann

Alberto V. Frič, Denis Cowper & Vlastimil Habermann

Habermann described this plant as producing “carmine red” flowers. This might be a matter of color definitions but none of the flowers encountered, in either pictures or as living specimens, have been carmine)

(See some color samples below.)

carmine

Samples of “Carmine”: carmine, rich carmine & deep carmine

White flowered form of L. fricii

A white flowering Lophophora fricii growing in Oz

 

It is also clear that pink, dark pink and white flowers can occur in some L. fricii.

Lophophora-fricii-ParrasdelaFuente-Coahuila-flowering-a

Lophophora fricii Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila flowering

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens is a variety that is recognized in horticulture.

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens

Care must be taken not to equate this with Crozat’s Lophophora decipiens as the “decipiens” morphology is a body form which can also readily be found in wild populations of Lophophora diffusa and also in some populations of Lophophora williamsii, and also in some presently ill-defined Mexican Lophophora populations that are shown in Bohata et al. 2005.  The use of “decipiens” as a horticultural varietal name, or as a description of this body morphology, is certainly sound enough but the attempts to assign Croizat’s L. decipiens as a synonym is, at best, on some shaky ground.

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens

Lophophora fricii var. decipiens with a darker flower

A noteworthy point was made by Gerhard Koehres that unlike the other Lophophora species, Lophophora fricii has fragrant flowers.

Koehres determined L. fricii to be self sterile.

Koehres was unable to pollinate L. fricii using pollen from L. diffusa and from L. koehresiiUsing the pollen of L. fricii Koehres was however able to produce seeds in both L. koehresii and L. williamsii El Huisache. 

Kada reported a failure to fertilize L. fricii after 7 attempts involving L. diffusa pollen, 13 with L. williamsii and 18 L. koehresii pollen but reported 1 apparent success for an attempt involving a self-fertile L. williamsii. Kada also reported a lack of success using L. fricii pollen to on L. diffusaL. koehresii and L. williamsii.

 

Lophophora-fricii-Oz

Lophophora fricii in Oz

 

Reported chemistry of Lophophora fricii:

Reported to be inactive in human bioassay at 3 gm/kg by Habermann.
Pellotine (Major) Habermann 1978a (From Štarha n.d.); Anderson 1980 cited Habermann 1977 & Habermann 1978a; [1.819% (± 0.212) (from Štarha 1997 citing Habermann 1978a)]; (65.2% & 65.5% of total alkaloid* [Štarha 1997 cited Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996])
Mescaline (Minor) Habermann 1978a (From Štarha n.d.); Anderson 1980 cited Habermann 1977 & Habermann 1978a; [0.014% (± 0.009) (from Štarha 1997 citing Habermann 1978a)]; (0.9% & 1.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997); Aragane et al. 2011 and also Sasaki et al. 2009 reported finding no mescaline — despite 1) performing additional analysis potentially supporting L. fricii as a separate species and 2) despite having obtained their L. fricii specimens identified by their suppliers to be Ginkangyoku (i.e. L. fricii), they published their examples as being nonmescaline containing variants of L. williamsii. This meant that their results do not yet show up on most people’s radar as representing an analysis of Lophophora fricii
Tyramine (0.1% & 0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
N-Methyltyramine (0.1% & 0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Hordenine (0.3% & 0.4% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
N-Methylmescaline (0.1% & 0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalinine (2.7% & 2.2% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
O-Methylanhalidine [Note 5] (?) (2.3% & 1.9% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalidine (1.0% & 1.0% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalamine (0.2% & 0.7% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalonidine (25.9% & 24.9% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalonine (0.2% & 0.2% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Lophophorine (0.1% & 0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Ed.: There is a question on this material. Please note that Štarha 1997 (in Grym) only cited Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996 but some entries in  Štarha 1997 are not in Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996. They may refer to otherwise unpublished material?
*The 2 figures refer respectively to GR 1086 & PR 3293; both were cultivated.
See GRYM 1997 for a discussion and photos.
See also Habermann 1975a for a discussion of this ‘species’ (in English.)

 

Lophophora-fricii-AKA-roseiflora

“Lophophora sp. roseiflora
AKA Lophophora fricii

 

Lophophora-tesselatus-0511-crop-enlargement

Lophophora tesselatus
AKA Lophophora fricii

Lophophora “tesselatus” would apparently have been proposed to be the name for this Mexican species had its description as L. fricii not been published by Habermann.
Lophophora sp. Viesca RS 404

 

Lophophora-viesca-Europeseed-RS404

seedling of Lophophora “sp. Viesca” RS404

Reported analysis of Lophophora sp. var. Viesca

from Viesca, Mexico

Also spelled. sp. Vieska in European cultivation. (This has been determined to be Lophophora fricii)

(Wild-collected in Mexico) Sample was 7.6 gm dry (Total alkaloid concentration not included)
Tyramine (0.03% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
N-Methyltyramine (0.08% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Hordenine (6.47% [± 0.29] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (6.5% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
N,N-Dimethyl-3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylamine (0.02% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996
N-Methyl-3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine (0.04% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996
Mescaline (1.01% [± 0.25] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (1.0% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
N-Methylmescaline (0.09% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
3,5-Dimethoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylamine (0.77% [± 0.09] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996
O-Methylanhalidine [Note 5] (0.07% [± 0.01] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.9% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalinine [Note 9] (0.45% [± 0.06] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.5% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
O-Methylpellotine (Trace of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996
Anhalidine (0.14% [± 0.in] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalamine (6.94% [± 0.30] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (6.9% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalonidine (5.32% [± 0.32] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (5.2% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Pellotine (76.28% [± 1.92] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (76.3% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Anhalonine (0.10% [± 0.02] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Lophophorine (0.08% [± 0.02] of the total alkaloid content) Štarha & Kuchyňa 1996; (0.1% of total alkaloid: Štarha 1997)
Color pictures and a description can be found in Grym 1997.