GRASSES

Ed Gein
RE: Grasses

Where would i look for phalaris growing in my area? around lakes? or.. where does it usually grow best.. and are there any characteristics that seperate it from other grasses making it easily identifiable??

-Ed

Q
RE: Grasses

From Trevyns:
And so to ID-ing Phalaris arundinacaea in the wild...

In the UK, and probably anywhere in the temperate world P arundinacaea grows with its feet in water, usually in the lower reaches of a river (slow flow, lots of sediment), but less often in saline estuaries, marshes are good (the Somerset Levels and Norfolk Broads are ideal), but even a damp patch in a wood will do.
The UK has 2 main species of Phalaris, the second is canariensis (I've no idea whether this has any alkaloids or not, but as it grows on disturbed ground, such as arable fields or wasteland, and is quite small, you won't find it in the same place as arundinacaea. If you are really lucky and you live near a port you may find aquatica which is similar to arundinacaea but stronger (it used to be used as bedding for animals on sea journeys - hence the ports) I know it has been found near Bristol, but not, regrettably by me. So to find P arundinacaea in the wild (in the UK) find a river or other place where reeds grow. A REED is a tall grass, having a cylindrical jointed stem with flat blades coming off at regular intervals up it and a flower head at the top. Not to be confused with a Rush, which has no stem, and tapering cylindrical leaves arising from a clump or tussock, or a Sedge which has leaves arising only from the base, usually in a triangular configuration when seen from above. The UK has two common reeds Phalaris arundinacaea (Reed canary-grass) and Phragmites australis (Common reed) often growing together. In Pharmacotheon, Jonathan Ott suggests that Phragmites probably also contains DMT, but who knows what else is in there as it is more closely related to Arundo donax which Jim DeKorne (in Psychedelic Shamanism) says made his eyeballs swell up!
Phalaris is generally smaller than Phragmites being 1-2m tall when mature with leaves up to 3/4"x6" as opposed to 2m+ high with leaves up to 1"x10". It is also usually paler green in colour. The flower of Phalaris is a compact yellowish head whereas that of Phragmites is a pinkish brown spray. However this is not much use in spring when all grasses look like lawn grass (anonymous).
Fortunately there are a couple of ways to tell the two apart however old or young, but if very young you'll need a very good magnifying lens (10x or better)...
Most true grasses have flat leaf blades and close inspection of the blade will reveal that at the base it clasps around the stem and is joined to a sheath which is wrapped around the lower part of the stem. If you grasp the blade and gently pull away from the stem the sheath will usually open up and pull away with the leaf. Examine closely the junction of blade and sheath. Most grasses have a structure called a ligule located here. It is above the blade and often looks like a tiny continuation of the sheath - which is of course below the leaf. In Phalaris the ligule is usually clearly visible as a translucent membrane a millimeter or so tall, wrapped around the stem (although in older specimens it may be quite ragged or even absent), while Phragmites has a ligule which is reduced to a fringe of tiny hairs, or sometimes just one or two hairs. Confused? - read on.
Take the sheath - the part of the leaf which is wrapped around the stem, unroll it carefully and hold up to bright sunlight. In almost all grasses you will see a pattern of parallel veins running up it. But in Phalaris (and only in Phalaris - and they say there is no God?!, well... actually so do I ...and I've spoken to him/her/it!), in Phalaris you will also see tiny cross-veins dividing the sheath into a kind of "brickwork" pattern. This is 100% diagnostic!!!
If you feel you need to practice and you don't have any Phalaris handy. Look in a few gardens (or even garden centres) if you find an ornamental, variegated (stripey) grass about 30-50cm tall this is almost certainly Phalaris arundinacaea (a variety called var. typha or somesuch ) one of the common names is "gardener's garters", not much alkaloid, but as far as the above details are concerned identical to the wild varieties
Good luck and remember to post if you get any results from wild Phalaris, I'm keen to know how good/variable it is. Incidentally the advantage with the wild variety is that even if it's the weakest ever tested you can still get a huge pile of it with no effort and even at 0.003% by weight, you should still get a hit from a kilo of leaf!!!
Now do you see why I didn't want to type all this if no-one wanted to know?

Huge, colourful love HR.