Once there were interns who drove far for seed collection

It was there some bad ones escaped loupe detection

Upon their return

This they did learn

And then painstakingly recounted to avoid seed rejection

Sometimes you can only see bad seeds back at the lab, under a microscope.

Ivesia lycopodioides. Sadly, despite our over collecting, there were not enough viable seeds to send in.

Lepidospartum latisquamum. Bottom seed looks good, top seed never developed.

Atriplex polycarpa. This was such a hardy collection that even at 60% viability we still had more than enough.

Pictures for nearly every White Mountains collection were taken through a microscope (good vs bad seed). These will hopefully assist future teams in better assessing what a good seed truly looks like.

-orps

Carson City BLM