zinnia seeds...

The seeds are supposed to be hard, right? I found a few hard beige arrowhead-shaped things which I'm pretty sure are the seeds, but I found so few that I just wanted to double-check. Most of the rest of the would-be seeds were very easily crumbled in my fingers. I'm guessing these were from rain damage, since I started picking during that time; I wasn't sure if it would ever stop raining! :)~
Thanks,
~Gina

http://theseedsite.co.uk/index.html
This is a great site for identifying seed.

http://theseedsite.co.uk/db22a.html

Gina,
I am not sure about "rain" damage. I do know that sometimes the ones I have seem to have some pods that are really firm and have great seeds and that others are mushy or crumbly, perhaps they are damaged from water and or insects, I really don't know. I found the site above when I was looking to see what the seeds looked like so I could assure you that you had found some seed. It is the first time I had ever visited that site. Perhaps someone else will know about the reason behind the crumbling. Sorry I wasn't more help.

{Same sentiments as in the other post}
And actually, that is alot of help- so you get some nice firm seed, which is the
viable seed for zinnias you mean? I read that each zinnia has a bunch of seeds,
but I only found a few (like 3 or 4) firm seeds per flower, with the majority of them being
mushy and bendable... something I was pretty sure that zinnia seeds shouldn't be.
Whatever went wrong with the seeds, now I'll feel better about throwing away the mushy things b/c I know they're not viable.

Yes, the pods that have the better seed are usually firm and of course when you open them there are lots of seed in each one....