Mimulus aurantiacus

Mimulus aurantiacus  Curtis subsp. aurantiacus
Southern bush monkey flower

Family:  Scrophulariaceae

Habit:  Erect, branched shrub 6 to 20 dm. tall with showy yellow flowers.

Distribution:  Rocky places, foothills and in oak woodlands, with many local forms throughout California.

Seed unit:  Free seed.

Seed:  Fusiform, 1 mm. long, found in capsules 20 mm. long.   

Embryo:  Small, linear in fleshy endosperm.

Purity instructions:  Pure seed definition:
AOSA: PSU#1 - Seed, with or without seed coat. Piece of broken seed, with or without seed coat, larger than one-half the original size.

Lab notes:  Seed should be removed from the capsule before planting; capsule material is considered inert.  

Average pure seed units per gram:  27,398 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from 48 samples received for testing from 1992 to 2002).

Range of percent pure seed:  1% to 9%

Range of percent inert:  90% to 99%

Description of inert:  Plant material

Planting instructions:  400 seeds, TB, 21 days @ 15°C; for fresh and dormant seed, 15°C and GA3 recommended.

References:  (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed.  1993.  p. 1040
Munz, P.A. and D.D. Keck.  1968.  p. 624.
Ransom Seed Laboratory

Castilleja exserta

Castilleja exserta (A. A. Heller) Chuang and Heckard
Purple Owl’s-clover (syn. Orthocarpus purpurascens)

Family: Scrophulariaceae   

Habit: Annual 10 to 45 cm., stiff hairy with purple flowers.

Distribution: Open fields, grasslands and woodlands of the Northwest, Sierra Nevada Foothills, coastal areas and inland through mountains of southern California, the Channel Islands, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Seed unit: Free seed.

Seed: 1 to 2 mm. free seed often has a loose, membranous, net-like outer seed coat, inner seed coat surface with cellular reticulation.

Embryo: Embryo is linear to spatulate in fleshy endosperm.

Purity instructions: Pure seed definition:  
AOSA:  PSU #1 – Seed, with or without seed coat/netted covering; broken seed larger than one-half the original size.

Lab notes:  If ovoid capsule is found, seeds must be removed.  Empty seed coat “nets” are considered inert.

Average pure seed units per gram:  13,744 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from 50 samples received for testing from 1995 to 2002).

Range of percent pure seed: 17% to 93%

Range of percent inert: 6% to 82%

Description of inert: Plant material, dead insects.

Planting instructions: 400 seeds, TB, 21 days @ 20°C; for fresh and dormant seed, prechill and GA3 recommended.

References:  (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed.  1993.  p. 1020
Ransom Seed Laboratory

Antirrhinum multiflorum

Antirrhinum multiflorum Pennell
Sticky snapdragon (syn. Antirrhinum glandulosum)

Family: Scrophulariaceae

Habit: Glandular sub-shrub 6 to 15 dm. tall, erect.

Distribution:   Found in rocky or disturbed places, in chaparral and mountainous areas of south San Francisco Bay and the south coast range.

Seed unit: Free seed with or without seed coat.

Seed: Brown, ovoid, 1 mm. long with broken wing-like ridges.

Embryo: Linear in fleshy endosperm.

Purity instructions: Pure seed definition:
AOSA: PSU #1 - Seed, with or without seed coat.Piece of broken seed, with or without seed coat, larger than one-half the original size.

Lab notes: Pieces of seed coat might be misidentified as pure seed.

Average pure seed units per gram: 5,650 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from four (4) samples received for testing from 1996 to 2001).

Range of percent pure seed:  55% to 64%

Range of percent inert: 35% to 44%

Description of inert:  Broken seed, plant material.

Planting instructions:  400 seeds, TB, 12 days @ 20-30°C; for fresh and dormant seed, 15°C and GA3 recommended.

References:  (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed. 1993. p. 1015.
Ransom Seed Laboratory