To say that the elusive Purple Trichocereus is rare is an understatement, at least in my sea of grafted seedlings it appears to be so as I have many more variegates from seed than I do purples. This purple trait seems only to have expressed itself after several days of my exposing my seedlings to very cold temperatures... nearly freezing.

To show how rare this is... another seed tray grown in the same exact conditions and we have no purples. Picture also taken today.

Very interesting. I wonder if something similar is going on to some of the purple phenotypes in Cannabis. Many of these happen in cold weather. Now, certain chemicals have been discovered to do similar things to give the growing Cannabis a purple color, but from what I have read and talking to growers with a lot of experience it seems like the purple strains all developed initially in cold weather climates. Some strains will not turn purple unless they experience temperatures below a certain degree. Not sure if this changes the THC output at all one way or the other, but some of the colors and smells are fantastic. I wonder if similar plant chemicals are involved in both the cactus and Cannabis color changes.

One thing I am convinced of... with only 3 out of a sea of seedlings both older and younger showing this trait to this extent and only after an exposure to cold temperatures it seems that indeed we have an interplay of the phenotype with the environmental conditions. Without these conditions I may have missed this trait altogether as it likely would not have surfaced as it appears to be environmentally induced.

So, yeah, that is my long winded way of saying I agree with you.

Like you, I'm not sure if it changes anything other than its winter suit so to speak, but if this purple trait can be intensified by line-breeding purple cultivars and selecting darker purples each generation than that would indeed be something. Cannabis has been bred that breeds purple now from what was once specimens that only grew purple upon exposure to cold weather.

So who knows, perhaps after much intensification we might even have a strain of Trichocereus that retains some purple all year round and during the winter explodes with a much richer purple? Add to that the fact that some people are also reporting reds in their seedlings and we could potentially see those colors being mixed into our purples as well as the obvious blues we have long had in many Trichocereus. To see me some heavy blue shades of Trichocereus that turn dark purple in the winter to say the least as I love contrasts. Growing a few of those amidst some of my variegated specimens that don't turn purple would provide some very nice visual eye candy to say the least. Not that all of nature is not beautiful. I love getting lost in natures beauty regardless, but to say that those finer things that speak of rarities often missed don't pull at my strings a bit more.... And yeah, if a strain or cultivar is developed that grows purple all year round then that came from specimens that were originally showing the trait only when environmentally triggered then it stands to reason that those same genetics would result in an even better richer color of purple come winter under those same conditions of cold that originally unveiled the trait we were after to begin with.

Exciting things indeed my friend.

Very exciting. I'd love to have some purple cactus in my garden. Keep observing and experimenting. It benefits the whole community. Mitakuye Oyasin = we are all interconnected and interrelated.

Mitakuye Oyasin is something I have frequently heard. I used to live with Yuwipi wichasa wakan man also Heyoka although some might argue those medicines often go hand in hand. That concept of interconnected or interrelatedness that you speak of goes very deep into the thought processes of the Lakota as every word can be broken down to show that relationship with other words or medicines.

Take the Lakota word Wakinyan for instance. Wakan = sacred. Inyan = stone. Wakinyan = thunder and or thunder spirits. So, stones are associated with thunder and lightning medicine.

It is for this reason that the sacred stones are collected for the yuwipi rattle that is so important in the lowanpi and yuwipi ceremonies. Those stones have a special connection to the thunder spirits and also to the little people (Wiwila or Nunnehi) so there is always this interconnectedness. A cedar tree is also associated with lightning or thunder medicine. A heyokas or sacred clown often gets that medicine by visioning of lightning. That pejuta makes him say things backwards from what they are meant or do things in a contrary way. A heyoka may be disliked as his medicine is particularly strong and contrary wise.

Back to the concept of interconnectedness we come to Iktomi the spider or spider medicine. Medicine of the mind, trickster medicine. When one rolls up the prayer ties 606 prayer ties 101 for each direction represented for the vision quest it is an act of rolling up the web of ones mind. Each prayer tie is a gift for the spirits to read as it contains a bit of tobacco for the spirits as well as your prayer. Each prayer tie made without making a single knot and all strung together... bundled up in a mess not unlike ones mind. When unraveled those prayer ties form 4 squares one above the other that for the perimeter of your altar where you will stand for 4 days and 4 nights without sleep, without food, without water.... you stand there and wait for those prayer ties to be read and hopefully to achieve a vision. It is said you will face your worst fears and that to have a vision in this way is to die and be reborn anew. Some will say that you have never truly been born unless you have quested.

When your altar is taken down it is again the tangling of that web. Your mind has been put back, but it is also forever altered. Iktomi is the spinner of that web. A medicine wheel and its spokes are but spokes on that web. You are the center and outwards from you those spokes or connections reach out. Those connections that are strongest resonate the most with you... you may find you have a medicine along one of those lines... especially so if one has visioned of that particular medicine while on your quest. Those connections or parts of the web can grow stronger just like any relationship or connection can be fostered or can be allowed to wither and die. This is how I understand that simple concept... but it goes deeper than that.

The air we breath... it is the same air our ancestors breathed. The water in our bodies... the same as that in our ancestors and perhaps at one point it was the water in a fish or a bird. Those molecules that make up our existence... every time we ingest a creature we are absorbing a bit of the water that was in that animal or that plant. We are all connected in that way as well. So, it is no just those mental connections. It is not just those spiritual ties we have made. We are all connected in many and varied ways to each other and to everything that exists and when we are gone so to will we remain connected in this way.

Back to Iktomi... it is not uncommon to see Iktomi when has a particularly powerful vision. I think this is why we see that spirit medicine associated with the mind across more than just one tradition.

Thank you for that.

I'm letting the majority of my grafts go down to -2 degrees celsius tonight to see if I can find any more purples in my collection or perhaps just intensify the purple that I do see. Keep your fingers crossed I don't loose all my young babies.

Just a quick update... you can see purple on one specimen here... frost bite and no purple on the other. None of my purples are showing any signs of cold damage and many of my green and variegates are yet to show any signs of cold damage