Simon

As you can tell by the slice in the testa, I had used a razor blade to open that particular seed. Don Holeman kindly sent me one of his extraction tools. It is a whole lot safer and more efficient than a razor blade. I have found that soaking the spinosissima seeds in water for a couple days softens the sutures and they split more readily. This is particularly true if the seeds have been stored for a year or so. Some seeds lend themselves well to being opened with a small pair of angle cutters. You can position the cutter in the sutures just at the broad end of the seed, squeeze and the seed will pop open. Sometimes it works too well and the half of the seed holding the embryo will fly across the room.