Crossing and “true” seed

Several weeks are spent each summer cross-pollinating our best breeding lines to generate tens of thousands of true seeds that are genetically distinct.  Here is a photo of Lance and Grace removing the anthers from collected flowers:

CollectingPollen

After drying overnight, the anthers are shaken and shed pollen that is collected in tubes.  The true seeds are inside the green fruit, or berries, that develop after pollination:

Berries2

true_seeds

 

These seeds are called “true” because they are seeds in the botanical sense, whereas the “seed” that is typically used for planting potatoes is actually a piece of tuber.