Mix of seeds from a buried wetland soil in Piedmont Maryland- ID feasibility?

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Hi all,

I am trying to create a planting plan at a site that represents what grew there before the landscape was altered by colonial agriculture. I have sediment from a well-defined organic-rich floodplain wetland soil layer that was buried under legacy sediment, and is exposed in a streambank in the site. I sorted through it, and got the seeds pictured (~50-70x magnification).

I would welcome your thoughts on:
a) Any possible species/genera/families suggested by these seeds, and
b) Whether, in your opinion, this collection method and image quality is enough to get a reasonable ID to family, or preferably genus/species.

More site context: Mid-Atlantic Piedmont (Eastern deciduous forest, or mixed forest if the layer is very old). We don’t yet have dating for the wetland layer, so these seeds could be hundreds to thousands of years old. They could also have been transported from upstream or upslope.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can provide, and let me know if any other clarification would be helpful! I realize that one of the “seeds” might be an ant egg.

-John

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[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Apologies, I have a better (and smaller file size) image of the first batch of seeds. Attached.

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[ID00000564d058b9a90cb8e16bce5351da67a863c0bb213a7Member Jennifer Neudorf]

Hello John,

This is an interesting project, and approach to restoration! It also helps much to have site context for seed identification. I wonder if you could provide another image of your collection with top lighting only? It looks like there is a light source shining through the seeds from the bottom (I may be mistaken) and it obscures some surface features.

Thank you, Jennifer

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you so much for the tip- I have gone through another sample from the wetland layer, and taken the pictures attached with top lighting only. It looks like the process of drying out (after being picked out of the sediment) might have discolored some of the seeds.

I’d be interested in your thoughts on what some of these could be, if anything stands out to you!

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[ID0000162001422bf9c9c13391f6689e0a38f7056409748e3Member Deborah Meyer]

Hi Jennifer and John,

I think the image Ednor0201_group2_front may be Sambucus.

Debbie

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Hi Debbie,

Looking at Sambucus seeds online, that looks spot on! I really appreciate it!

[ID0000162001422bf9c9c13391f6689e0a38f7056409748e3Member Deborah Meyer]

Hi John,

The remainder of your seeds are mostly likely from the Cyperaceae. Perhaps Cyperus (for the smaller seeds), Scirpus, or Carex. Jennifer may have better ideas.

Debbie

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Thanks! I do have one very distinctive group of seeds/macrofossils popping up from the oldest stratum, and I’m wondering if they could be spruce needles. If anyone has seen stuff like this before and could confirm/deny, I’d appreciate it!

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[ID00000564d058b9a90cb8e16bce5351da67a863c0bb213a7Member Jennifer Neudorf]

Hello John,

I think that the needles in the image could well be Picea spp. (spruce). They are relatively short, stiff, and look to be sharply angular rather than flat or rounded angular.

Which species of spruce do you have in your area?

As for the caps, they may be bud caps from conifer buds, perhaps the same species as the needles.

I hope this helps, Jennifer

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Hi Jennifer,

That is helpful! Yes, I agree on spruce, as looking at the needles further they are four-sided and, like you said, short and sharply angular. The cool thing is, there are no naturally-occurring spruce left in this part of Maryland. Red spruce, our only remaining species in Maryland, are restricted to a few areas in the mountainous westernmost portion of the state. During the late Pleistocene, I believe we had white, black, and red spruce, so C-14 dates might be necessary to determine what is most likely.

I had the same thought on the cap structures, but cannot find any images or mention of spruce bud caps online. However, given that they co-occur fairly abundantly with the needles, I do agree that that seems like the most likely option.

Thanks again,
John

[ID00000564d058b9a90cb8e16bce5351da67a863c0bb213a7Member Jennifer Neudorf]

Hello John,

I have some ideas to share about some of your sedge family (Cyperaceae) fruit images, specifically the ones that are likely Carex (sedge) species. There are a great many species in Carex, and are a challenge to identify even with physical specimens in hand. My ideas for possible species are based on the fruit (achene) appearance and current distribution.

To add- Carex achenes are enclosed in a papery sac-like perigynia that offer more identification clues, but they decay in the soil.

The most common achenes in the images (especially Group 1) are the narrow ones with a long peg-like stipe. I think these might be Carex tribuloides. Carex sychnocephala has similar achenes, but is found in the northern United States into Canada. I’m not sure of historical distribution.

The almost triangular achene at the bottom of Group 5 looks most similar to Carex echinata to me, with light brown achenes.

I hope this helps; I’ll keep an eye out for the other achenes in these images.

Thank you, Jennifer

[ID0000547ff70cc268d0693d96ff86707f99f2e5cfe0f4d7eMember John Merlo-Coyne]

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks so much! We may be able to get C-14 dates on these strata, which would help us figure out whether the site was colder/warmer during deposition, so C. sychnocephala with its more northerly current distribution might not be out of the question. I really appreciate you lending your expertise on this. I couldn’t tell two Carex apart to save my life.

Best,
John

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