CactiGuide.com

I want to verify what the seeds of Pediocactus simpsonii look like. I received a packet of them and I see what to me looks like the dried skin of a strawberry, or peanut brittle. It contains many pockets which appear to have a seed in them. But, they are not individual seeds. If I planted a clump of these I'd get a whole bunch of seedlings in one place. My gut says these are not seeds, but the remains of the fruit capsule.

Now that I've given a verbal description, here are some photos I took today at work to show what I'm seeing.

It is very weird. I dont think this "pockets" would contain Pediocactus seeds. I have already sowed Pediocactus and the seeds look like normal cactus seeds. Lets see what others have to say.

To me based on the pictures I would say these are just seeds glued together because they were kept in the fruit too long, so the fruit dried out completely and clumping it all together. Could happen if the fruits were quite fleshy, but I don't know if this is the case for Pediocactus. I assume if you crush them gently you would get individual seeds (and quite some fruit debris).

Maybe? I don't know what the seed inside the fruit looks like, but I do have some loose P. simpsonii seed I can take a picture of whenever I get home.

I was thinking of taking one of those strawberry like pieces and soaking it in water to see what would happen. I'll have to try that tomorrow.

MrXeric: That would be great if you could take a photo.

These seeds have to be gray to black, 2 ÷ 3 mm long and 1.5 ÷ 2 mm wide.

The photos show some crushed shell of something... not sure about the scale and actual size.

If you bought them, I would ask for a refund. The seeds are clearly either fake, or are improperly cleaned. Improperly cleaned seeds may lead to mold growth when sown, and could impact the viability of the seed.

I have a number of Pediocactus Simpsonii specimens in my collection and have given away seeds from them .

My experience is that what you're showing in the photos are indeed PS seeds. The fruits ripen and contain more "jelly" than say Opuntia or sclerocactus seed pods. The fruits slowly turn brown or rosy as they ripen for picking. Then they need further drying a processing. I peel mine open and using only enough water to disperse the jelly and separate the seeds. Then dry them on a paper towel. This species is just goopy that way. Probably engineered for birds, reptiles and rodents that eat them to swallow quickly because of the nutritious jelly allowing the seeds to pass through the acidic gastric juices to prep the seed hull for germination once excreted by the critter. That's my theory.
So I say you got good seeds and should wash and prep them for sowing. Check out posts by Metsolt in Bosnia Herzegovina...under the grown from seed forum. He has some of mine and is doing quite well. Good luck. I'll see if I have pics to back this up.

No seed pics found, yet. They may be in my cactus tool kit bagged up. Or in the freezer. Hmmm? The seeds...not the pics.

As a consolation, here's a pic of one of the parent plants in my front yard cactus garden.

Some P. simpsonii (RP 179) seeds from Mesa Garden that failed to germinate:

On some of my seeds, I have pierced them right at the hilum with greatly improved results on Scleros. Plus sterilizing everything including the seeds

Thanks Eric and Steve..and all. Greatly helpful. I should have included a scale bar in the photos. I can do that today. Now I will try soaking what I have. I was searching this sub folder yesterday and saw some threads by Iann where he found success germinating at high daytime temps and lower nighttime temps. Now let me go and relearn the microscope to include a scale bar.

Here is a new photo with a scale bar showing. I just calibrated it this morning. 100 um = 100 micrometers = 100 microns = 0.1 mm = 0.003937"

This shows the individual "seeds" to be about 0.1 mm across. Much smaller than the seeds described by 7george. Could they be unfertilized seeds?

I soaked the material I had and I could see white blobs rehydrating, which may have been the jelly. The original bumpy material did not expand. I did see what look like empty shells of seeds that are in the correct size range given by 7george. I did not see any seeds that look like what MrXeric posted.

I am not upset as I did not purchased this material. These photos are taken under distilled water.

Post office demolished them they should look like 'Some P. simpsonii (RP 179) seeds from Mesa Garden that failed to germinate:"

They are kinda big seeds light brown. What are frailia seeds supposed to look like ? tiny dust like ?