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XID Services Inc. EXPERT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS Printing this Guide Using Attributes of Your Own Choice |
List Species and View References Eliminating Species of Your Choice |
These keys to identify plants are comprised of a set of databases designed to run in the expert system software produced by XID Services, Inc. The databases are supplemented by color images of each species and line drawings to illustrate the terminology used within the menus. Such programs offer many advantages over traditional dichotomous keys. While originally produced to increase speed and ease of use, they also provide the ability to easily update the data and images, and are much cheaper to produce and more compact than hard copy guides. These databases include a large selection of plant characteristics from which to choose. In general, much more data are included on each plant than is necessary to identify it. With this abundance of data, the user can identify a plant using the characteristics most obvious and easy to describe. With each characteristic entered by the user, the program eliminates all species that do not have the combination of features entered.
BOTANICAL TERMINOLOGY:The use of botanical terms has been kept to a minimum; however, some terms used to describe plants cannot easily be replaced by "common" words. Definitions of terms, and usually illustrations, are provided throughout the menus of characteristics. Terms are also cross referenced to an excellent illustrated glossary of terms, PLANT IDENTIFICATION TERMINOLOGY (Harris and Harris, 1994, ISBN# 0-9640221-5-X) which is abbreviated PIT.
SPECIES INFORMATION: Information provided for each species may include synonyms, ethnobotanic uses and additional information to distinguish the plant from similar species and to separate varieties. Keep in mind that the data for each species is also available and constitutes an extensive botanical description. HELP: The instructions on the use of the XID software are all included in the Program Help. To access program instructions, select "Help" from the Help menu. Scrolling down through the text of Help information provides a detailed review of how to use the various features of the software. ANALYSIS: One of the most useful and powerful features of the program is the Analyze Feature. It provides a list of the easiest and most effective menus of characteristics to distinguish between the remaining species that have not yet been eliminated. In the Broadleaf database, the Analyze feature may be used at any time. However, in the database for Grasslike Plants, it is important not to use the Analyze feature until the plant family for the plant has been identified. In the Grasslike database, using the Analyze feature before the family is identified, runs a high risk of failing to identify the plant, because it may lead the user to an attribute menu for the wrong family. If the correct family is not known, one should first go to the Family Key menu; if the family is known, then go directly to the appropriate family menu and the program will identify the family after the first characteristic is entered. INTERACTIVE IDENTIFICATION: When using the program, SELECT SPECIMENS THAT ARE OF AVERAGE SIZE FOR THAT POPULATION. Many of the easiest characteristics for the untrained user will be found in the "General" menu. The user should first enter the most obvious or unusual one or two characteristics of the plant and then use the Analyze feature to get leads for where to go from there. If you are not sure whether a characteristic fits the plant to be identified, DO NOT mark it. If you are not sure which characteristic best fits the plant (a blunt vs. rounded leaf tip, for example), USE THE "OR" FEATURE to mark them both and ensure that the correct species will not be eliminated from consideration. Also use the "OR" feature for dimensions of leaves, etc. to avoid problems from specimens outside the usual size for that species. When using the Analyze feature, the user may select any of the menus listed, or select a different menu from the menu tree. Unless you have extensive training in plant terminology, avoid the more complicated or technical characteristics; they usually aren't needed anyway. Due to the large number of characteristics to choose from, there are literally hundreds of thousands of possible paths to identify the same plant. USE WHAT YOU KNOW, WHAT IS MOST OBVIOUS, AND MOST UNEQUIVOCAL. PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS: Once you have reduced the number of remaining species to a relatively small number, review the photos and/or descriptions using the "Gallery" or "Species List Report". It can take as many steps in the menus to reduce the number of remaining species from 12 to 1 as it does to reduce the number from 400 to 12!! These extra steps can greatly increase the possibility of making an error (especially since these species have greater similarities). REFERENCES: The "References" section (below "Menu Structure") allows you to see the ISBN # for the references used in the program, so that you can order those which you would like to add to your library. You can also "drag and drop" the references in the list so that those which you own will appear at the top. This program is a tool to help in the identification of plants, and as with any key, should not be considered a final authority. Identifications should be checked against plant descriptions. A list of references and page numbers, describing the plant may be called up from the Species List. We have made every possible effort to eliminate errors from the data. In the event you find data errors, we encourage you to Contact us, so we may correct them and send you a new copy. Also please feel free to contact us if you have a better image of any species that you would like to contribute. Photographic credits are included on any images used in the databases. The data and images are being continually updated for inclusion in future versions. Please feel free to Contact us if you have any questions. Return to User's Guide ContentsNO INSTALLATION IS NECESSARY FOR THE MUDES.
IF YOU ARE USING THE MUDES DIRECTLY FROM THE CD:
IF YOU ARE USING A WINDOWS OS ON WHICH THE MUDES HAS BEEN
INSTALLED:
Copying this Program to your Hard Drive
If you wish to run this program on the
Windows OS hard drive of your computer instead of from the CD, create a
new folder
on your hard drive, and then (using Windows Explorer) copy all the
files from the CD to the new folder. Once that is done
you may create a new shortcut icon on your desktop to the executable
which will open the program. Be sure there is at least 600 MB of free
space on your hard drive.
Also, if you have a copy of an older Windows version of XID software on
your hard drive, there is a possibility your computer may default to
running the program in the older version. If this happens, simply
delete the older version. If you are using Virtual PC on a
Macintosh OS, you must use the MUDES CD to run the program.
Using Attributes of Your Own Choice
When you open the XID program, the XID Database Selection Dialogue browse window appears which will show only XID Database files. Select the XID Demonstration Database file and double click it.
If the program is not maximized on your screen, click the Maximize button in the upper right corner (across from "Demoweed"). The current screen shows "Menu Structure", "References" and "Database Description" in the upper left, a list of species names in the lower left window, and a blank window on the right. In this exercise you will identify Canada thistle by saying that it has spiny leaves, rhizomes, and wind-blown seeds. These choices could be entered in any order. Note the line above the species list box shows that there are currently 72 species remaining in the database. Click the small + box to the left of "Menu Structure" in the upper left window. The first level of the menu structure expands. Click the small + box to the left of "General" Click the small + box to the left of "Spines or thorns". Double-click the text (not the box) for "Spines on leaves and/or stems". The number (7) to the left of the attribute (Spines on leaves and/or stems) is the number of species in the database which display that characteristic. Note that the number of species shown on the line above the species list is now 7/72. This means that of the original 72 species in this database only 7 meet the criteria selected. The remaining species are shown in green and alphabetized at the top of the species list; the eliminated species are shown in red and alphabetized below those remaining. You can select whether the species are alphabetized by common or scientific name by clicking "Options", then "Species List Report" and marking your selection. Click the small + box to the left of "Wind Dissemination". Double-click "Fruit, seed, or spore wind borne". A message appears on the screen: "Family Identified". This means that all species remaining in the database belong to the same plant family, in this case Asteraceae. Click "OK" to clear this message. Note that the number of species remaining is now 3. The next attribute which you will mark is "Rhizomes", which is not found under General. Click the small box with the minus sign (-)to the left of "General" to contract the menu. Click the small + box to the left of "Root and/or Vegetative Propagule". Note that the attributes in this menu which are not displayed by any of the remaining species (have a frequency number of 0) are shown in red, while those which are still applicable are shown in blue. Double-click the word "Rhizomatous". A message now appears on the screen: "Species identified:" and provides you with a scrollable photo and description of the plant on the right. Click "OK" to clear the message. You can drag the split line (that divides the right and left portions of the screen) to the left if the entire image is not viewable. You can select what information is displayed for the species on the right side of the screen by clicking "Options", then "Species Description", and making your selections. Click the yellow brush icon in the tool bar along the left side of the screen to clear all marks in the tree. Note that the number of species remaining returns to the original number in the key (72/72), and all of the menus and attributes return to a blue color. The right hand side of the screen now displays the highlighted species at the top of the species list. You can display the photo and description of any species in the species list by clicking on its name. Return to User's Guide ContentsUsing the "Yes", "No", and "Or" Commands
YES:
Click the small + box to the left of "Flowers", then click the small + box to the left of Flower color. Double-click the word "Yellow". A "Y" mark now appears to the left of "Yellow", and the number of species remaining is reduced. You have said the color of the flower on your plant specimen IS yellow. Click the Eraser icon (between "N" and "OR" on the left hand tool bar to clear the mark on the attribute. Note that the number of species returns to the original number (72/72). Marking more than one attribute in a menu with a "YES" mark causes the attributes to be combined as "AND". For example: Double-click "Yellow". Double-click "Purple". The number of species remaining is now much fewer than when only "Yellow" was marked. You have said that your flower is BOTH yellow AND purple in color, or that both yellow AND purple flowers are present within the species (these situations could be distinguished by marking the "Multi-colored" attribute). Click the yellow brush icon to clear both marks you have made. NO: Click (don't double-click) "Green", so that it is highlighted. Click the "N" icon on the toolbar to mark the attribute "No". A "N" mark now appears to the left of "Green", and the number of species remaining is reduced. You have said that the color of the flower on your specimen IS NOT green. Note that the number to the left of "Green" still shows some remaining species. This is due to the fact that "NO" marks eliminate only those species/items that are marked exclusively for that character (in that menu). To eliminate a species that can occur with more than one attribute in a menu, all possible attributes for that species must be marked as "NO" in the menu. Click the eraser icon to remove the mark. Note that the number of species returns to 72/72. OR: Single-click the word "Yellow". Click the OR button on the toolbar. A dialogue box appears with the list of attributes in the menu with small boxes to the left of each. "Yellow" is already checked. Check the box to the left of "Yellow-orange", and then click "OK". An "OR" mark now appears to the left of both selections. You have said that you are unsure of the color of the flower on your specimen, but that it is either yellow OR yellow-orange. Use the "OR" technique any time you are unsure of the exact answer. This is very helpful for highly variable attributes such as leaf shape and plant height. Click the yellow brush icon to clear all the marks you have made in the "Flower Color" menu. Note the number of species remaining returns to 72/72, and the menus all change to blue. Click the small minus sign (-) box to the left of "Menu Structure" to compress the menu structure tree. Return to User's Guide ContentsIn this exercise you will use the Analyze feature to aid in identifying a dandelion (Taraxacum officinale).
Click the "A" button on the toolbar. A "List of Useful Menus" appears on the right. This is a list of suggestions for attribute menus which will be useful in identifying your plant. The suggestions at the top are the menus that are easiest and most likely to separate between the remaining species. Click "Flower color" in the list of suggestions. The Menu Structure tree opens to this menu. Double-click the word "Yellow" in the "Flower Color" menu. Note that the number of species remaining is now 25. The list of suggestions on the right should automatically reset to consider only the species not yet eliminated from the list. If it did not, click "Options" at the top of the screen, and click on "Auto Update", and then click the "A" button again. You can tell whether it automatically reset by whether the top suggestion (Flower Color) has changed. Click the words "Life Cycle" in the list of suggestions on the right. Double-click the word "Perennial" in the "Life Cycle" menu. The number of species remaining is now 8. Click "Milky Juice" in the list of suggestions. Double-click the words "Juice milky" in the menu. The number of species remaining is now 3. Click "Root or Vegetative Propagule" in the list of suggestions. Double-click the word "Taproot" in the menu. The number of species remaining in the database is now 2 and the "Family Identified" message appears. Click "OK" to clear the message. Click "Main Stem Branches" in the list of suggestions. Double Click the words "Main Stem Unbranched" in the menu. A message comes up that says "No analysis possible with only one species left" (this is due to the auto reset of the analysis function). Click "OK" to clear the message. A "Species Identified" message now appears and the species image comes up on the right. Click "OK" to clear the message. Clear all marks with the brush icon in the tool bar, scroll to the top of the menus, then click the small minus (-) box to the left of "Menu Structure" to compress the tree. Marking attributes of your choice with "YES", "OR", or "NO" can be combined in any sequence with asking the program for suggestions (Analyze Feature). Return to User's Guide ContentsExpand the Menu Structure (by clicking the small plus (+) box to the left). Expand the Flowers menu (by clicking the small plus (+) box to the left). Expand the Flower Color menu (by clicking the small plus (+) box to the left).
The number of species in the database with each of the attributes is shown at the left of the attribute. This screen tells you that for this database (or the remaining group of species) "Yellow" and "White" are common flower colors, but "Red-orange" and "Brown/black" are rare flower colors. Note that any time an attribute is marked, the distribution numbers for all the attributes change to reflect the newly reduced species list. Note also that the total of the distribution numbers in a menu is often greater than the number of species in the database. This is due to species that are marked for more than one attribute in the menu. Contract the "Flowers" menu by clicking the minus sign (-) to the left of "Flowers".Expand "General", then "Milky Juice.
Double-Click "Juice milky". Expand the "Leaves" menu, then "Leaf Arrangement". Double-click "Opposite". The "...Identified..." message appears. Click "OK" to clear the message. Click the check-mark icon on the tool bar. At the top of the window on the right it shows you what you have done, i.e., "YES" for Juice milky and "YES" for Opposite. No species will appear in the "Eliminated Species" section of this report unless you have eliminated them using the "Eliminate" command discussed later.Click "Database" at the top of the screen, and select "Common Attributes". These are the attributes that are common to the remaining species.
Clear all marks with the brush icon and then compress the Menu Structure. Return to User's Guide ContentsList Species and View References
Click the blue "Item/Species List" icon on the toolbar to show a scrollable list of the species in the database along with a selection of information and images. Each time this button is clicked, a dialogue box appears asking what information you wish to have displayed (unless you have selected the box which says "Don't show this dialog before every report").
The list displayed will be only those species which have not been eliminated by attribute marking. Along with the species names, you may select to view a picture of the species, descriptive information, the filename of the picture in the database, and a list of references with page numbers where you may look up the species.Click the yellow Gallery button (overlapping squares) on the toolbar. Images of the species that have not been eliminated are presented, allowing you to scroll down through them. If the list of species is too long for all the images to be displayed, clicking on "More" at the bottom of the scrolled images will display the next group of images. You can change the size of the images, how many are presented (up to 100) and whether the species name is displayed with each image, by going to "Options", "Gallery" and making your selection. Since the images are of various sizes there may be some blank spaces in the gallery. You can also change the way that the gallery is presented by moving the "Split Line" that divides the right and left sides of the screen. If the names are included, the images are presented in a vertical arrangement. If names are not included, the images may also be presented in rows, depending on the width of the images and the width of the right window.
Go to "Options", "Gallery" to select whether or not to show the names. Holding the cursor (not clicking) on any image for a couple of seconds will also cause its name to appear. Click once on an image to bring up the context menu. Click on "Find item in list" and the species list on the left will scroll down (if necessary) and highlight the species name. Click once on an image to bring up the context menu. Click on "Toggle eliminated", and a red X will be placed in front of the species name in the species list at the left, removing the species from those remaining. Since the species has been eliminated it is shown below those remaining in the list and its image is removed from the gallery. Click once on an image to bring up the context menu. Click on "Description", and the dialogue box for species description will appear unless "Don't show this dialog before every report" has been checked under "Options", "Species description" (in which case the selected information for that species will appear, replacing the gallery). Click the yellow Gallery button (overlapping squares) on the toolbar. Click once on an image to bring up the context menu. Clicking on "Distinctive attributes" will call up the distinctive attributes feature described in the section just below this. Return to User's Guide ContentsRight-click on the words "Menu Structure", click "Expand attribute menus. Mark one or more menu attributes, until the number of species remaining is around 5 to 15.
Right-click on one of the remaining species in the list in the lower left corner, and in the context menu select "Distinctive Attributes." A screen titled "Distinctive Attributes of" (name of species that was highlighted) appears. The number of species with each attribute is listed on the left hand side of the screen in order of increasing frequency. Those attributes with a "1" at the left, are possible only for the species named at the top of the screen. Attributes with a "2" at the left are possible for the species named and for one additional species from the species list, and so on. This screen should be thought of as containing features the species MAY have. These features are not necessarily mandatory. For example, a plant species may have white flowers and blue flowers; the blue flowers could be a unique feature, but your specimen might only have white flowers. If your specimen had blue flowers, however, this screen would have provided a good clue. Compress the Menu Structure tree, and click the yellow paintbrush icon to clear all marks in the menus.Eliminating Species of Your Choice
Expand the Menu Structure, then "General", then "Spines or Thorns".
Double click "Spines on leaves and/or stems". Assume you know the specimen you are trying to identify is NOT prairie wild rose or teasel. Highlight each of these species and click the blue "X" button on the tool bar to eliminate those species from consideration. This leaves an X mark to the left of each of these species, and moves them into the alphabetized list of eliminated species below the those remaining. Eliminating species in this manner can be very helpful. Now if you were to click "Analysis", the suggestions provided will be different than they would have been, since the program now tells you how to distinguish between only those that have NOT been eliminated. Click the check mark ("Marked & Eliminated") icon on the tool bar. This brings up a list of the attribute marks made, and below it the images of those species that have been marked as eliminated. Clicking on one of these images calls up a context menu that will find the species name on the species list, toggle the species back from being eliminated, or access descriptive information. Contract the Menu Structure tree and clear all marks using the brush icon. Return to User's Guide ContentsExpand Menu Structure, then "Leaves", and "Leaf arrangement".
Right-click "All basal", and select "Report". A description and image of a plant with all basal leaves is displayed. If the entire screen is not visible you may use the scroll bars or drag the window divider to the left to enlarge the window . Right click on the menu title "Leaf Arrangement" and click "Report". The image that appears allows you to compare all of the different leaf arrangements. You can move the split line to the left or scroll the image if it is not all viewable.Right-click on any species name in the list, then click "Description". If the dialog box allowing you to select the information you wish to have presented for that species does not appear, it is because the "Don't show..." box is checked in "Options, "Species Description".
This screen gives you general information about the species which was highlighted. A picture of the species may be displayed, as well as descriptive information, the name of the image file name for the species, the attribute data that has been entered in the database, and a list of references with page numbers for further information on the species. Right-clicking on a species name in the list can also allow you to eliminate the species or show its distinctive attributes in comparison to the other remaining species. This feature does not work for species that have been eliminated by attribute marking or the "Eliminate" function. Return to User's Guide ContentsNo matter where you are in the program, selecting "Help" from the program "Help" menu at the top of the screen, provides you with detailed help that explains how to use the XID software.
Click the "X" button in the upper right corner to close the Program Help.There are many ways to successfully identify tree species, the
following
appears to be a common strategy adopted by many students with good
results:
If you are sure your specimen has an attribute that is not in a menu (but the menu appears, with other attributes), your species might not be in the database, or the author may have chosen not to include that attribute. It is also possible that we may have made an error in the plant data. Each key includes thousands of data entries. If you believe you have found an error, please contact us, and we will correct the error and send you an updated key with our thanks.
In the database, "false" data is used when it will make the program more efficient for the unskilled user. For example, dandelion is marked both 5 (the correct answer) and > 10 (the way it looks) in the "Number of Petals" menu. Many families have more than one name (i.e., Asteraceae and Compositae), and either one can be selected in the "Family" menu. To eliminate such a family, however, both names must be marked as "NO" in the "Family" menu. Return to User's Guide Contents