lathyrus seeds

[cohan]

i collected some wild lathyrus pods (ochroleuca) recently and when i opened found them full of dark powder, besides the expected peas..
is this likely a fungus? should the seeds still be viable?

[Maggi Young]

Fungus on a seed is not necessarily a bad thing..... with hard seeds it may well aid germination, if the fungus has not thoroughly attacked the actual seed. However, I'd be suspicious that the dark powder is a "frass" residue from some critter which has been living in the seedpod .... any signs of exit holes from the pods?

[Lesley Cox]

In any case, sow them Cohan. Or you'll die wondering.

[Lesley Cox]

Later in the year or early next, I'll have masses of seed on Lathyrus laxiflorus. I hope everyone will want it. It's such a brilliant plant. In flower now, it has hundreds of stems in flower.

[cohan]

Fungus on a seed is not necessarily a bad thing..... with hard seeds it may well aid germination, if the fungus has not thoroughly attacked the actual seed. However, I'd be suspicious that the dark powder is a "frass" residue from some critter which has been living in the seedpod .... any signs of exit holes from the pods?

ah, now that's an interesting and not unlikely idea... i didnt look for exit holes, though the pods are certainly not young and pristine--these finished flowering quite a long time ago, and we have had some pretty severe weather already..

lesley--i wasnt planning to sow them myself, since the plant already grows all over the place here; i would like to try to mass some for a more interesting effect, but i probably just need to find a natural patch and weed out other stuff...lol (yes, i have more a piece of bush than a garden-or you might say some bits of garden in the bush..)
i wanted to send the seeds to someone who expressed interest in them, and didnt want to send anything bad... i will look at them more closely to see if it looks like they've been chewed...

[cohan]

Later in the year or early next, I'll have masses of seed on Lathyrus laxiflorus. I hope everyone will want it. It's such a brilliant plant. In flower now, it has hundreds of stems in flower.

great colour--just based on that photo it reminds me of Hedysarum boreale at higher altitudes here (foothills upward)

[Lori S.]

great colour--just based on that photo it reminds me of Hedysarum boreale at higher altitudes here (foothills upward)

Well, it's actually found throughout the grasslands province-wide (Hedysarum boreale var. boreale).  However, H. boreale var. mackenzii, a form that seems to be more recumbent, occurs in open mountain meadows...  (NB:  Photos of both posted through through the summer.)

[cohan]

great colour--just based on that photo it reminds me of Hedysarum boreale at higher altitudes here (foothills upward)

Well, it's actually found throughout the grasslands province-wide (Hedysarum boreale var. boreale).  However, H. boreale var. mackenzii, a form that seems to be more recumbent, occurs in open mountain meadows...  (NB:  Photos of both posted through through the summer.)

okay--there are no grasslands near where i live, so i dont see it until we get well into the foothills--i've seen it somewhere past nordegg or around abraham lake, then farther still even more common....i did see what i presume to be the higher altitude, more recumbent form much nearer the treeline...
actually, i should say i havent seen it around here, meaning not that it absolutely couldnt occur, but that its at least uncommon--nothing that colour in ditches around here!; we get some parkland species creeping in a bit, occasionally, though not many grassland species, unless they can survive in cultivated fields or along roadsides, which some do..