Phalaris pigments

[0_o]

An enormous and diverse patch of Phalaris arundinacea grows near where I live right now. Many of the new leaves near the top show red pigments at their margins. A few leaves caught my eye however, they had red/purple colors.

The uppermost leaves are where alkaloids are found in the largest concentration and at this time the alkaloid levels are at their highest in literature. The plants are a bit drought stressed as well.

There are visible patches of different phenotypes here, some are a bit taller, some have more purple in their inflorescence than others. Something looking like P. aquatica is in the area as well.

I chew on the leaves of the P. arundinacea, just the top two leaves. They are often sweet but these were salty. Go figure.

 

[0_o]

The image quality isn't ideal, the shade was a rather dark maroon.

 

[grollum]

and you think the color might indicate high dimitri levels?
I think this might not be the case. but i love those colors.
i would say the only way to find out is to extract and test.

 

[0_o]

The flavor of the material indicates more alkaloid than a lot of the surrounding plants but what the alkaloid is and how much there is... ? I've no idea. I suspect it is gramine the plants showing this coloring are so few I expect them to be homologous recessive.

I suspect the pigments employ a similar enzyme pathway to alkaloids.
I don't have any interest in attempting an extraction. I did collect a few lbs of seeds from what I expect is over 1000 plants in early summer but I don't want to sort through seedlings to find better clones.