In the following sections I briefly relate the use of mescalbean in ceremonies and material culture. Because of its extreme physiological effects, the mountain laurel tree, or at least its seed, was likely viewed as a powerful plant worthy of trade and of decorating ritual clothing. These alkaloids are not, however, hallucinogenic, rather, the mescalbean and its purgative effects, along with many other sensory inputs, helped the vision-seeker reach a culturally defined condition in which to receive visions (Merrill 1977:4). The many physiological effects of mescalbean intoxication include muscle paralysis, nausea, evacuation of the bowels, seeing red, unconsciousness, and death (Hatfield et al. Mescalbeans contain an abundance of poisonous narcotic quinolizidine alkaloids, including cystine, N-methylcistine, and sparteine. This kit has been described as a hunter's kit or a healer's kit (Butler 1948 Shafer and Zintgraff 1986 Boyd and Dering 2005), and given the interwoven nature of religion and subsistence in a hunter-gatherer life, it probably served as both.Ĭhemical composition. This bag contained mescalbeans and Mexican buckeye seeds, both poisonous, as well as a flintknapper's tools, jackrabbit mandibles, fiber, sinew, a buckskin thong, and red ochre. This is illustrated by their presence in a carefully buried bag from Horseshoe Ranch Cave in southern Val Verde County. Another discovery attests to the importance of these seeds in the ancient culture of the region. For example, a buckskin loincloth decorated with mescalbeans was recovered from Murrah Cave (Holden 1937 Boyd 2003). 1956:125).Īlthough most of the mescalbeans and pods occur widely in the midden, or trash deposits of archeological sites in the region of southwestern Texas, they have been noted in more specific contexts. Cueva Candelaria, in the southwestern corner of Coahuila, contains necklaces made of bone and unidentified seeds that resemble discolored mescalbean seeds (Arroyo de Anda et al. They may be present in collections from Frightful Cave in the Cuatrocienegas Basin of Coahuila, Mexico (Adovasio and Fry 1976 Butler 1948 Campbell 1957 Merrill 1977 Taylor 1988). Mescalbeans have been recovered from several rockshelters to the east in Edwards County. Radiocarbon dates from Hinds Cave, indicate that mescalbeans were brought into the shelters in the Lower Pecos region at least as early as 6,500 years ago and probably much earlier.

Fruit pods from the mountain laurel and mescalbeans are ubiquitous throughout the dry archeological deposits of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands (Dering 1979 Irving 1966). Therefore during this discussion, I will follow the example set by Merrill (1977) and refer to the seed as a mescalbean, but I will refer to the tree as a mountain laurel.Īrcheological occurrence.

Unfortunately, the term mescalbean is imbedded in the literature. By contrast, mescalbean is the seed of the mountain laurel, a small tree in the legume or bean family. The best known type of mescal is tequila, which is made from cultivated 'blue agave,' Agave tequiliana Weber (Gentry 1982:14-16). The common name mescalbean has caused a lot of confusion with mescal, an alcoholic drink distilled from the baked and fermented hearts of agave. The bright red beans were also used for ornamentation. Mescalbeans are poisonous, yet they were used by native socities for ritual purposes, because of its powerful psychoactive properties. The tree produces a tough woody bean pod that houses bright red, hard, seeds commonly referred to as mescalbeans. It grows throughout much of northeastern and north central Mexico, southward along the Sierra Madre Oriental (Cox and Leslie 1988 Powell 1998). Mountain laurel is native to the drier regions of the Edwards Plateau and the Trans-Pecos into southeastern New Mexico, and along rocky outcrops in the Rio Grande Plains. The beautiful purple flowers appear early in the spring, producing a literally intoxicating aroma. Its hardy nature and attractive, deep green foliage makes this tree a desirable landscaping plant. The leathery evergreen leaves slightly resemble those of the unrelated laurel (Laurus nobilis) of Europe, but are very poisonous.Mountain laurel is a small, evergreen tree or shrub, that can grow to 30 feet tall. Tenaciously hanging on for survival in a cliffside crack. Mountain-Laurels produce showy clusters of 10-parted white to pink flowers in early-mid May in the Durham area. Mountain-Laurel is an evergreen large shrub or small tree, common in the Mountains, uncommon on north-facing slopes in the Piedmont, and rare in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Ericales>Ericaceae>Kalmia latifolia L. Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina Mountain-Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)