Hi there. I've just harvested a batch of pimpinella anisum seeds. Problem is I'm having a heck of a time distinguishing the seeds from the outer covering of the seed capsule. I want to send some to someone in a trade and certainly don't want to send them a pile of husks, lol! The capsules were whole when I took them off the umbels, but quickly split open. Are they very thin seeds? I feel so dumb because I'm usually pretty good at finding the seeds when they're not that obvious. I'm stumped with these things!
Thanks a lot!
vm
Help please with my anise seeds!
Why don't you just send along a note explaining that there is chaff included?
Thanks Nedhudson1. I think I have got what looks more seed-like separated from the junk and I will certainly explain things to the recipient. Maybe I'll send those as well as another separate packet of chaff/husks and let them sift through it to see if there are any seeds I missed. I think I'll remove them from my "Have" list lol! They're too finicky for me.
If you type the scientific name into your search,Wikipedia or Wikimedia has a good pic of anise seeds-they look like chaff.
Thanks again. I spent a lot of time Googling, but will take a look at the Wikipedia site again.
I use Yahoo search
try this link. there are several seed photos
http://images.google.com/images?q=pimpinella+anisum+seeds&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
anise seeds is similar to size of rice with husk on. hth
Thanks MaVieRose! I looked at all those pics before and still couldn't figure it out, lol! What happened was that mine started out looking like "intact" seeds, but then they all split open when I was taking them off the the dried flower head. Normally, when that happens, you see an actual seed inside what was the "capsule". Only a few of mine had anything inside that even remotely resembled a seed. I started thinking maybe the capsule itself was several seeds instead of the outside of a pod etc. I just received some anise seeds from someone who sent them to me so I could see what hers look like. Well, they look a lot more like seeds, but are different from the little striped capsules that came off my plant. I'm going to keep experimenting and hunting for the actual seeds on mine. I've collected some more dry seed heads so will check them out. Possibly my first ones were too dry or infertile and didn't contain viable seeds. I've never had so much trouble with anything before, lol!
Many thanks, I appreciate your help!
ur very welcome. it is always a pleasure to give a helping hand. least anyone know, when i help someone i learn a lot in the process cuz i get to "see" other things unbeknown to me.
based from previous experiences, sometimes we think the dried flower head is dried, but they turn out some are not thoroughly dry. on later harvest, i place dried flowers in a paper bag, allow them to dry for more time, about a month. at this point, everything has fallen apart in the paper bag. it is much easier to discern the the seed from the hull, or other unnecessary part of the flower.
like i said above, anise seeds are more like rice seed before the hulls are taken off. whereas angelica seeds are like sweet rice seed.
i enjoy doing research albeit on books or online.... ma vie aka mvr