Initially cacti only grew on American continents and with the distribution of cacti's during the centuries, cacti's were able to instigate habitats around the world. It is believed that Christopher Columbus was the first person to have taken the first cactus to Europe, presenting this 'peculiar' plant to Queen Isabella of Spain. (however, the accuracy of this assertion remains vague.)

The Spanish Conquistadors found during their explorations on the American continents, along with other things, these strange 'vision inducing' plants that were employed by the natives as a religious sacrament and was revered virtually as a god. The natives called these plants 'peyoti' which is a spineless dense-shaped cactus (Lophophora Williamsii), native to Mexican and south west US and has button like tubercles that are eaten fresh or dried as a narcotic. Cacti ('peyoti') were used for healing purposes, divining the future and generating visions during scared rites. These hallucinations can be compared to LSD trips, though 4000 times less, briefly tilting the distribution and action in the brain. The exact mechanism of actions still remains unclear.

Fray Bernardino de Sahagun (Spanish chronicler) claimed that natives used a certain plant to induce hallucinatory state and estimated that usage of 'peyote' existed at least 1890 years before the arrival of Europeans. The earliest European record was around 1635 with the first column of Historia de las Indias Occidentales by Gonzalo Hernandez de Oviedo y Valdes appeared with illustrations of what we would now classify as Cereus and Opuntia.

Scientific analysis started in the late 1880's and it was first revealed that cacti contained mescaline as late as 1945. Mescaline was utilized approximately around this period (1945-50's) in early experiments involving chemically induced psychosis. Mescaline was also studied widely for the treatment of alcoholism, neurosis and other mental disorders until the discovery of LSD.

Over the centuries, an immense quantity of European discoveries have been made and with the great amount of species found - classification inconveniences (unsurprisingly) occurred. Species in the cacti family were categorized repeatedly. It was not until 1904 where the Cactaceae families were divided into tribes, sub-tribes and occasionally series. This division is still recognized by many at present, yet new discoveries and modifications are still being made…cacti's are still constantly being introduced to cultivation.