Preserving Subfossil Seeds

[BentonlWalters]

Hello Everyone,

 

I recently went on a trip to Norfolk (I'll do a trip report soon) and collected some bulk samples from the West Runton Freshwater Bed, a famous Pleistocene deposit. I've been washing the first batch of it today and found several small seeds (~1-4mm) which I currently have in a small jar of water as a few started to split when they began to dry. 

 

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on how to preserve and stabilise the seeds. My goal is to be able to try micro mounting them to take pictures and see how many species there are, I've counted at least 6 different shapes so far. The seeds themselves are subfossil and as a result still quite fragile and pliable. while some of them may survive controlled drying without splitting I'm intrigued to see if anyone has another suggestion.

 

 

Thanks for the help,

Benton