Prima Materia
The Calcinator
I am aware that I have more to learn regarding identifying grasses. These plants have to be checked very minutely in order to properly discriminate them. Therefore, if I have made any errors, I would be happy to be corrected and thus prevent any misinformation on the forums. Thanks!
I have been on the more or less passive search for Phalaris arundinacea for a few years now, from when I first got the information about it. However in the last few weeks or so I put some more energy and enthusiasm to learn about and find the grass . It seems I have had success finding the grass. To be honest it was not very hard to find.
I have had confirmation of one picture I posted in the chat so far. However I do have more pictures to identify. It is possible that there is a picture of another species of grass among them.
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All the pictures of the grass are from the same spot (pictures #1, #2). The spot is a relatively big river bank of which a small part is flooded (swampy) and some water is running above it as well (depends on the quantity of water at a given time). I had visited this spot three times now in a course of the last 3 weeks. The observations are written below.
There are relatively lots of plants of reed canary grass at this spot. Therefore I see them as a population of the species nicely displayed on one spot. If that is truly so, there is a possibility of finding an individual patch/tuft of the grass that has a good alkaloid profile, clone it and grow it home in pots. I plan to explore more of the area in the future and continue to observe the plants. Also, I have found some traces of what I believe is Phalaris aquatica on spots close to this one.
Different individual plants on the spot display different characteristics. For example the color and the shape of the flower heads. Some plants have bright other plants darker and reddish flower heads. Some have elongated and other more branched flower heads. The word 'inflorescence' is used to denote traits of the shape of the flower. See pictures (#3 to # 8) to see the variations. Another thing is that some of the tufts are already dried out and all the seeds fell out of the heads while others are flowering only now (photo #9). Also, some tufts have new growth on it's sides (picture #10). These different phenotypes suggest that there is most likely a lot of alkaloid variation in the population as well.
All the plants I took photos of have the same type of 'junction of blade and sheath' - you can see that on the photos #11 and #12. Most of them have a clearly visible typical phalaris pattern on the seedheads. Taking this into account I presume all of these grasses, although showing somewhat different characteristics, are all the same species.
I am still learning and it is possible I had missed or mistaken something. If anyone can comment on that I would be very grateful.
I will post more material in the future.
I have been on the more or less passive search for Phalaris arundinacea for a few years now, from when I first got the information about it. However in the last few weeks or so I put some more energy and enthusiasm to learn about and find the grass . It seems I have had success finding the grass. To be honest it was not very hard to find.
I have had confirmation of one picture I posted in the chat so far. However I do have more pictures to identify. It is possible that there is a picture of another species of grass among them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All the pictures of the grass are from the same spot (pictures #1, #2). The spot is a relatively big river bank of which a small part is flooded (swampy) and some water is running above it as well (depends on the quantity of water at a given time). I had visited this spot three times now in a course of the last 3 weeks. The observations are written below.
There are relatively lots of plants of reed canary grass at this spot. Therefore I see them as a population of the species nicely displayed on one spot. If that is truly so, there is a possibility of finding an individual patch/tuft of the grass that has a good alkaloid profile, clone it and grow it home in pots. I plan to explore more of the area in the future and continue to observe the plants. Also, I have found some traces of what I believe is Phalaris aquatica on spots close to this one.
Different individual plants on the spot display different characteristics. For example the color and the shape of the flower heads. Some plants have bright other plants darker and reddish flower heads. Some have elongated and other more branched flower heads. The word 'inflorescence' is used to denote traits of the shape of the flower. See pictures (#3 to # 8) to see the variations. Another thing is that some of the tufts are already dried out and all the seeds fell out of the heads while others are flowering only now (photo #9). Also, some tufts have new growth on it's sides (picture #10). These different phenotypes suggest that there is most likely a lot of alkaloid variation in the population as well.
All the plants I took photos of have the same type of 'junction of blade and sheath' - you can see that on the photos #11 and #12. Most of them have a clearly visible typical phalaris pattern on the seedheads. Taking this into account I presume all of these grasses, although showing somewhat different characteristics, are all the same species.
I am still learning and it is possible I had missed or mistaken something. If anyone can comment on that I would be very grateful.
I will post more material in the future.
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