Seeds of 82 species of weed and crop plants were tested for germinability after dry storage or storage in fresh water for 3 to 60 months. Seeds of 24 species did not germinate after storage in water for 12 months or less; whereas some seeds of 27 species germinated after 60 months in water storage. When stored in water for longer than 12 months some seeds of only 22% of the annual monocots tested germinated; whereas about 75% of the perennial monocots, and annual and perennial dicots germinated. Species whose seeds consistently germinated better after water storage than after dry storage were western waterhemlock [Cicuta douglasii (DC.) Coult. & Rose], woolly sedge (Carex lanuginosa Michx.), pale smartweed (Polygonum lapathifolium L.), bouncingbet (Saponaria officinalis L.), and blue vervain (Verbena hastata L.).