[1] The species are extremely slow growing, sometimes taking up to thirty years to reach flowering age (at the size of about a golf ball, excluding the root) in the wild.
[citation needed] Cultivated specimens grow considerably faster, usually taking between three and ten years to reach from seedling to mature flowering adult.
[citation needed] The slow rate of reproduction and over-harvesting by collectors render the species under threat in the wild.
[2] Recent DNA sequencing studies (Butterworth et al. 2002) have shown that L. diffusa and L. williamsii indeed are distinct species.
[3] Lophophora species easily adapt to cultivation, requiring warm conditions and a free-draining substrate, and to be kept dry in winter.