Friday, November 22, 2013

Look closer for the Juncus scirpoides seeds

The Wetland Restoration Team working indoors Wednesday started with three lunch-size paper bags filled with stems from Juncus scirpoides aka Needlepod rush.

The goal was to collect the seeds.  That's when I learned the seeds are about the size of a period . . .

No sneezing allowed while working on this chore.

We ended up with about two tablespoons of seeds. Success!

The dried capsules . . .

. . . are deconstrusted over a white paper plate.

With a small brush, the seeds are swished in a collection sieve.

What you see here is mostly litter. An extreme close-up would show the seeds, which are tiny, uniform-size dots.

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