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Seed reference record

Tetramolopium humile subsp. humile

Asteraceae · Endemic

Tetramolopium humile subsp. humile seed, Close-up

Close-up

One seed, filling the frame, focus-stacked. This is where surface texture, hilum position and sculpturing are legible — the characters that separate close relatives.

Tetramolopium humile subsp. humile seed, Pair

Pair

Two seeds, usually showing different faces. Many seeds are flattened on one side where they pressed against a neighbour, and a single view hides that.

Tetramolopium humile subsp. humile seed, Cluster

Cluster

Several seeds together at lower magnification. Shows the range of size and colour within one collection, which a single specimen never does.

Images © Lyon Arboretum Rare Plant Program Seeds Lab, served from SeedsOfHawaii.org

Measured

2.75–3.7 mm
length
0.55–0.9 mm
width
0.45–0.6 mg
mass
Tetramolopium
genus

Storage behaviour

orthodox

Desiccation-tolerant. Can be dried below 12% moisture and stored at freezing temperatures.

Whether a seed can be dried and frozen decides whether it can be banked at all — which is the first question a seed laboratory asks and one no identification tool usually answers.

Dormancy

No pre-treatment recorded.

Seeds of a similar size

An unknown seed of this size could be any of these. That is the practical value of a measured reference set: it says what a specimen might be confused with, and by how little.

The full record on SeedsOfHawaii.org →Identify an unknown seed