KY Seed Identification Contest Study Slides Developed by Cameron White

Grasses ID

Kentucky Bluegrass

Orchard Grass Keel shaped; lemma pointed and twisted; rachilla long and slender.

Tall Fescue resembles ryegrass; no awn; broadest midways, long pointed at apex

Timothy Wedge-shaped; bare seed round with thin, silvery lemma attached. Light tan

Redtop

Sudan Grass Brown-tan; often covered by lemma and palea. Oblong; pointed at one end.

Grain Sorghum Dark brown-purple; glossy black glumes. Oblong; pointed on one end.

Bromegrass, Smooth Grayish-tan lemma and palea tightly adheres to brown to purple caryopsis. Flat and oblong with brodest area toward one end.

Ryegrass, Perennial has an awn or remains; awn end tapers; other end wide, rounded, flared

Red Fescue

Weed ID

Johnson Grass brown, light to black with gradiations, smooth and shiny

Ox-eye Daisy

Giant Foxtail

Curly Dock triangular, sharp-edged, glossy red-brown seed

Dandelion

Morning Glory black to brown; shaped like sections of an orange

Cheat (Chess) elliptic, long, smooth brown; short awn

Ragweed

Small Grain ID

Wheat has a “brush” on one end; a deep groove found on the ventral side

Oats may vary in color from reddish to white

Barley straw-colored; very chaffy; several spikelike projections

Rye, Winter brown to metallic green seed, cylindrical, pointed

Buckwheat

Triticale

Legumes ID

Red Clover mitten-shaped; color varies from yellow to brown to purple in the same sample

Korean Lespedeza larger than Kobe; little or no hairs on pods; veins in pod darker; hulled seed, purplish

Alsike Apple-green to greenish-black, browing with age. Nearly heart-shaped except notch slightly off center.

Crimson Clover large when compared to other clovers; light tan color; oval-shaped; smooth to smooth-glossy

Hairy Vetch seed size variable; smooth, dull black color

Alfalfa kidney-shaped; yellowish-brown, sometimes with a green tinge

Soybean variable in size and color; usually yellow, can be brown or black; smooth, hilun color will vary

Birdsfoot Trefoil Olive-brown, buff, purple mottled, and purplish black. Oval.

Sweet Clover Greenish-yellow (yellow blossom seed may be flecked with purple). Mitt shaped

Kobe Lespedeza usually unhulled, hairy, brown pods; hulled seed, purplish

Sericea Lespedeza seed usually hulled; light brown to green flecked with purple; dark reddish pod

Crown Vetch Yellowish-red to reddish brown. Cylindrical rod shaped.

White Clover seed small, heart-shaped; color ranges from yellow to dark brown in the same sample

Vegetables ID

Comparison of Seed Sizes

Popcorn pearl-shaped

Carrots ribbed with oval shap convex backside 2 - 3 mm

Sweet Corn

Turnip resembles cultivated varieties

Spinach

Radish

Cabbage

Tomato flat, mostly rounded seed rough seedcoat 2 - 3 mm

Squash flat, more rounded seed rough seedcoat 11-12 mm

Parsnips

Eggplant

Dill

Parsley

Peas rounded, rough seed coat; gray to black color

Beans (pole & bush)

Cucumber flat, narrow seed smooth seedcoat 8 - 9 mm

Lettuce

Kale

Endive

Cantaloupe

Peppers flat, mostly rounded seed smooth seedcoat 3 mm

Beans (lima)

Other ID

Cotton

Tobacco

Sunflowers flattened, brown in colour, 5 – 7 mm long. The outer seeds in the head are wingless and the inner seeds winged

Sugar Beets

Resources Seed Identification – Mississippi State Extension http://www.cottoncrc.org.au/industry/Publications/Weeds/Weed_IdentificationTools/Weeds_by_common_names/Wild _sunflower http://www1.american.edu/ted/bluegrass.htm https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/forages/forageid/forageid.htm http://www.bruceseed.com/Creeping-Red-Fescue http://www.forestryimages.org/browse/detail.cfm?imgnum=5307085 http://oardc.osu.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=221 http://www.quia.com/jg/1956175list.html http://www.mbsseed.com/buckwheat.htm http://www.hometownseeds.com/organic-sprouting-seeds-c-217/triticale-organic-sprouting-seeds-p-412 http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agripedia/agmania/seedid/VEGETA.asp