Betalain and Anthocyanin, Medicinal Red Pigments

It was an honor and a pleasure to spend the first hour of my volunteer shift attending the doctoral dissertation of now-Dr. Alex Crum. She was the first person to show me the ropes of watering plants at the University of Minnesota's Conservatory Botanical Collection. In July 2021, as the covid-19 lockdown was beginning to end, and volunteers were allowed back into service at the greenhouse. I was happy to be one of them. Dr. A was gracious and patient with my first day of instruction as a volunteer.

Since then, Dr. A has completed her Ph.D. thesis, studying - the the best of my understanding - the chemical and ethnobotanical details of the compound betalain. This red-colored chemical is made by a limited number of plants in the plant kingdom - specifically, they are made in the carnation family of Caryophyllaceae. But when betalian is present, those plants tend to be used by humans all over the world for medicinal purposes. Examples of betalian-rich plants include amaranthus (anti-malarial drugs), and beetroot (which has anti-inflammatory properties).

Although red in color, betalain is not the main red chemical in plants. Anthocyanins are the predominant red color, as seen in the photo I captured today of the ginger flower below (Globba winitii, mauve dancing lady ginger):

Mauve dancing ladies ginger (Globba winitii), the red color is from anthocyanin rather than betalian

After attending Alex's dissertation, my assignment was to clean a small fig tree - Ficus dammaropsis - which is known for its very large fruit, which can measure up to 6 inches in diameter. This particular tree was about 12 ft tall, but very spindly. I was able to lift the pot down from the bench to the floor where I could access and clean all the the leaves. The leaves are also very large, up to 3 ft in length and 2 ft in width. This variety of fig tree is native to Southeast Asia.

Ficus dammaropsis

Two large figs of Ficus dammaropsis, 4-inch diameter

After cleaning the sooty mold and scale insects off of the fig tree, my next assignment for the day was to rearrange the hanging baskets of succulent plants and cacti. Special metal hooks of variable length were available to stagger the pots for a more interesting appearance while preserving for the plants below them access to the sunlight.

Hooks and ladders were used to rearrange hanging baskets of succulent plants

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