Yellow Hibiscus
Abelmoschus manihot
This beautiful four foot annual wildflower has hibiscus blossoms of soft butter yellow. It is not often seen in the home garden and deserves increased popularity.
Seed collection is easy but some caution is needed to protect your hands. The large tear-shaped pods develop at the base of the flower, they are velvety in texture. When mature they turn deep brown and split open at the top. The pods are easy to remove from the plant stem by breaking them off with your hand or snipping them away with scissors. The plant stems have very small cillia which can easily break off, get into your skin and itch like mad. Use work gloves to protect your skin and a long apron to protect your clothing. Afterwards a good soapy scrubbing of your hands and forearms is warranted.
To remove the seeds simply pry open the pods and out will tumble dozens of brown to black seeds. They are shaped like lentils and about 1/4" across. Allow the seeds to dry for at least a week before packing.
Linnaen herbarium
Department of Phanerogamic Botany
Swedish Museum of Natural History
Wikipedia.Org
Monticello.Org