you can tell if seeds are male or female if you take the seed and hold it in your fingers bottom up look at the bottom if it sort of looks like a volcano with and O on it then its more likely female and female seeds are more round then male seeds...male seeds are shaped like footballs and roll funny...try to get 1 vainy...but the color doesnt matter to the seed it can be darker or lighter and still make an awesome plant...the male seeds are like a football on the end and dont have the volcano shape but dont toss seeds away if they dont seem like males...