Now I have at least two different strains of brachystachys, possibly three (two from a few hours apart of distance but with very similar morphology, another from farther away with a little different morphology), and also one strain of canariensis. I am wondering how much of a risk there is for cross pollination and hybridization between these different strains while growing in the same garden, and what exactly I must do to prevent this. Canariensis also hybridizes with brachystachys.

And a news. The seed dormancy period of my first harvest of brachystachys seems to be coming to an end and many new seedlings are popping up by the day 🙂 the growth rate appears to be slower than I expected, some grass appearing to have stalled growth after a point. I wonder if this is related to the summer heat, despite my ample watering.

I've maked an experiment with a small quantity of aquatica vinegar extract and rue. Effects: none to very very very light. 3g of rue and 20g 8 months old aquatica plants.

8 months old dried? Does that work with smoking for you? it is said that drying significantly decreases potency. But I am at the same page as you right now: wild aquatica with rue is too risky of toxicity. İ wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

To summarize my Spring 2020 phalaris discoveries:

1) P. aquatica: this species grows very abundantly along the Mediterranean coast and has multiple genotypes. İ have come upon one strain which showed no activity, one very potent variety which proved to be highly toxic in combination with rue, another one that is also very potent and with a sweet feel, but also slightly toxic with rue. If there is a way to extract pure DMT from this grass, it would be very useful. However, it proved to not be a potential ayahuasca analogue ingredient as it has not spiritually synergized with rue but dominated the experiences with a static DMT fractal shine.

2) P. paradoxa: This species grows everywhere in virtually infinite supply in my area. I did only one experiment with it in which it felt to have non DMT tryptamines, possibly 5 MeO DMT. It felt alien and cold and I did not feel like doing other experiments even though it probably also has numerous genotypes... Smoking dried grass gives a euphoric feeling.

3) P. truncata: a few experiences felt very good, a very caring and teaching spirit, but lacking DMT... Calling for more exploration.

4) P. minor: I found a lot of P. minor but did not do any experiments this season. The very first unidentified phalaris which I experimented with is likely to be P. minor and it provided
an interesting, useful synergy with rue.

5) P. canariensis: found some dried specimens and planted the seeds. No experience yet.

6) P. brachystachys: 10 - 20g fresh has appeared to be promising but I need more experiences. I am weary of the possibility that this will turn out like aquatica with higher doses; even if it does not have toxicity, I seek a plant spirit that is warm and synergizes with rue.


Attached photos:

1) The latest photo from my cultivated brachystachys. I wonder if this "seedling" phase is a good time for harvest or if I should wait for mature plants with flowerhead before harvesting?

2) This is one seed which sprouted from a specimen which I had found in a far away area many years ago. It is a miracle, one seed among hundreds survived and sprouted and from this specimen I will continue breeding its kin. It has a more classic brachystachys phenotype, just 15cm tall and tiny flowers as opposed to the huge brachys exceeding 1.5m in my current area. It is growing together with a rogue rue plant 🙂

*** Successful bioassay with Brachystachys ***

Taking into account the caution necessary against love at first sight,

Just, wow!

...

I trimmed grass blades from the three pots in the photo above. It seemed like an awful lot but weighed just 18g, fresh.

These were seeds that sprouted just before the summer heat, the rest of the seeds haven't sprouted yet.
I grew them with no fertilizer, ample water, in partial shade.

It took about two months for the grass to grow to this size, in the summer heat.

My previous trial with this grass that I harvested from the wild felt promising but was mild in the 10-15g range (Of course those grasses were past their anthesis phases...) so I did not have high expectations for this trial.

My experience was sublime, period. It was very powerful.

The spirit of the grass was in full synergy with rue and the teachings and visions were highly meaningful.

The spirit is feminine, deep, visionary.

The visions were extremely intricate and detailed.

This is what I was looking for... In contrast to the bluntness of A. confusa...

It was like a cross between chacruna and chaliponga.
The visual style and feminine energy similar to chacruna
And the very long onset, gradual arrival, waves, deepness and mystery like chaliponga.

Very deep...

Felt like there was no other alkaloid other than DMT. Needless to say, there were no side effects.

Deep gratitude.

Fills my hearth with joy reading that
Congratulations!!

Nice! This project has been fun to follow over the last few months, so thank you for doing this. Can you elaborate on how you prepared the Brachystachys for consumption?

dithyramb very good news!

Thanks for your explorations.

Thanks for reading, friends ❤️ This is huge indeed.

VibeSurfer, I go by the traditional/primitive "ayahuasca" paradigm... I just cooked the grass 2x30 mins with vinegar added, then reduced to a shot. Drank it 20 minutes following rue tea prepared in the same way.

I prefer that I don't have to pick out certain components from the plant that I work with, that I can trust it's full being. That's one reason why I shyed away from aquatica even though I found super potent DMT producing strains. My paradigm/focus is Plant Spirits rather than isolated chemicals.

I had felt there is something special about brachystachys since years ago when I started reading about Phalaris. According to literature, there are pure DMT strains, and strains with 5 MeO DMT and/or gramine. This strain that I found does not feel like a far shot from the alleged pure 3% DMT strains reported...

Tryptamine soups can be healing and enjoyable in their own ways (Acacia confusa, P. aquatica etc) but so far my experience is telling me that the presence of tryptamines other than DMT in more than trace amounts waters down the spirit of rue and the depth of the experience.

The poaceae family is very interesting... İt needs to be looked at not so much species by species, but strain by strain (but perhaps this is true of all plants?) We'll also see what Phragmites holds for us in time! 🌿

I'm very pleased to hear of your research, dithy!

If this strain proves to be successful for you over time do you plan to share the seeds with others for testing?
We have seen a few different strains analyzed here, some with 5-meo. If a pure dmt strain could be found and distributed, that would indeed be big news.

Thank you for your courage and willingness to share your experiences

İ would love to share it kerelsk. İt will take some time to acquaint deeper with it and multiply the seeds i have at hand. After intense exploration on the fields for months, finding gazillion specimens of other phalaris species, İ found just a total of 6 specimens from this brachystachys. For some reason it seems to be rare and difficult to find in nature.

İ also harvest seeds from a special strain of rue every year, and i am waiting for the right time to share with the world. People often postulate that it might be a higher thh content which makes it special. İ don't know but we will find out.

Kerelsk, has a pure DMT producing brachystachys strain not been identified by the Nexus community before?

Subjectively the experience felt like no alkaloids other than DMT, but of course the experience was very unique to the plant itself. İ don't know if this translates to the physical domain as other alkaloids (which I don't know how to recognize, like gramine) or other non-alkaloid components.

The purely introverted and otherworldliness nature of the experience felt very familiar, like chacruna. No bodily component (I assume 5 Meo dmt to have bodily effects), no fuzziness and "spatialness" ( NMT, Acacia confusa). Highly precise visionary journey.

And no blood pressure complications/stimulation ( hordenine, n methyl tyramines etc)

I don't know, but isn't it like with some other Phalaris species, which produce mainly DMT at one time of the year and mainly 5-MeO-DMT another time of the year?

I've never read that about brachystachys.

İ got my first flowerheads... The flowers and the general size of the plant is significantly smaller than it's mother plants İ found in the wild. Possible reasons could be the summer heat, poor soil quality, or the pot that limits the size of it's root system.

Growing plants in pots in the summer is something I've had very little luck with. It's asking for their death or one's own watering slavery. Without an automated irrigation system I wouldn't attempt it other than for extremely drought resistant plants.

All my Phalaris aquatica in pots died this spring, which was very dry and sunny. The ones in the ground not only survived but remained green. And your climate gets more summer heat and dryness than mine (this summer here has been fairly cool and wet, in contrast to the spring).

That said, growing plants in pots makes it easier to control them, avoid weeds etc. If you've been diligent in watering them, it's likely the size of the pots that's limiting them. Another thing is that tap water (if that's what you water them with) is not as good as rain water. When I water my plants with tap water, they're on tick over; when the rain comes eventually, it's like steroids for them.

This may be botany 101 but I have been observing that almost all plants are stalled in their growth in the summer regardless of the availability of water. The brachystachys seeds don't germinate now. Why should it grow in this unbearable heat? İt's interesting what you say about rain water vs tap water.

I have recently planted 3 varieties of brachystachys, a strain of aquatica, and truncata.

The aquatica was the one to most quickly and vigorously start growing. It is the aquatica strain which I appreciated the most (with a good amount of both N,N and 5 MeO and an ecstatic effect) but did not quite take on the classical ayahuasca analogue synergy, being static, and also it had a noticeable amount of blood pressure raising tyramines.

I will be studying these grasses integrating the lessons I have learned with Phragmites, which could be practically considered to be a giant phalaris (besides being in the same family, it produces the same basic set of alkaloids as Phalaris - DMT, Bufotenine, Gramine, Hordenine). Drying and simmering (as suggested by Appleseed) makes a huge improvement to the overall effect of the whole extract. In my experiments with phragmites, drying cleared out a lot of the clouding components, and I saw that the same material which can give a divine opening when simmered can be really empty/devoid of magic when boiled (the 5HT2A antagonist gramine factor?)

With Phalaris, I had only been boiling fresh material up to now.

Also in line with Phragmites guidelines, I will be testing the grass before flowering. Flowering decreases the alkaloids almost 15 fold in phragmites, according to a study.

Among Phalaris, I have only been able to test brachystachys before flowering up to now, and that was my most solid success as an ayahuasca analogue with a Phalaris grass. Interestingly, the effect was similar to my successful phragmites experiences. But I can feel the "bigger" spirit of phragmites also. The visionary styles have similarities, however Phragmites is more forceful, elating, and musical while brachy was more deep and mysterious.

I love studying and writing about plant spirits. I will refine and update with more experience.

I really hope to be able to overcome the disconnective Gramine factor... If this is accomplished, I feel like "the sky will be the limit" for lack of better words ;-)

Hi dithy ,
reading your trials is pleasant.


Wondering if cold water extractions could benefit in avoiding undesirables.
Or how a wheatgrass juicer might benefit before making the extraction, that is if the alkaloids concentrate in the juice for example.
Just thinking out loud

Hey Jees! Wouldn't juicing bring out all the alkaloids including undesirables?

As for cold extraction, it might work if you manage to not have it spoiled. My first cold extraction attempt went rancid over a single night. The sterilizing effect of heating is important, apparently. Perhaps a vinegar soak would be successful.