Amercian Beauty Berry Callicarpa Americana Seed Collection

American Beauty Berry Callicarpa Americana Seed Collection

I wanted some seeds of this plant for my notebook. I found a plant and collected the berries. The berries were juicy, and those that were damaged in collection tried to stain my hands, and probably would have my clothes. I placed the berries in a paper envelope and let them dry for 3 weeks.

After being dried, the dried berry can be taken in between your thumb and index finger, and rolled around. Maybe as if you were trying to sprinkle spice onto something. Let the particle land on a white sheet of paper. Then you can separate and collect the individual seeds. Some seeds may still have fruit residue attached or are dyed pink, the color from the berry.

 

I made an attempt to count the seeds per fruit.

Fruit	Seeds
1	3
2	4
3	3
4	4
5	4
6	3
7	8
8	4
9	4
10	6
11	4

Counting seeds per dried fruit had its challenges and observations. I believe about 4 seeds per fruit. When berries are picked, a seed may squirt out, thus leaving some of the results having only 3 seeds once dried. One sample had 8 seeds which I think was really 2 fruits dried and smashed together. One sample had 6 seeds, a sample in poor condition which may have been 2 fruits smashed together as well.

If counting seeds was in mind rather than just collecting seeds, then this process could have gone smoother. Fresh berries may be easier to separate out seeds and account for each individual fruit. Those are just some after thoughts. Half the dried berries were really hard to collect seeds from, the method above didn’t work. Perhaps wetting the berries then drying them again may help, but I have enough seeds and did not investigate further.

I did poorly not taking a picture of the plant. Haha, other pictures not much better. Maybe next time...