[SOS-PCA] Milkweed Advice from Xerces Society

[Haidet, Margaret (Megan)]

Passing along a little information to aid in collection of milkweed species.

I wanted to write to suggest that if the SOS teams come across pods that
have mature seed but have not yet fully opened, perhaps they could
hand-strip the seeds from the pods right then in the field. When the floss
hasn’t yet expanded, it’s very easy and quick to just strip the seeds out
of the pod and discard the pod shells and floss. In contrast, if the
harvested pods are shipped to a processing facility, even if they are
closed at the time of collection, by the time they are delivered to the
facility, the pods will have opened and the floss fibers will have dried
and expanded, and the time and labor needed for seed cleaning will be
increased.


Megan Haidet
Seeds of Success
National Collection Curator
Seeds of Success
202-912-7233

www.blm.gov/sos
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