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A Multi-Access Key
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AECOS Incorporated
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This page serves as an introduction to a series of identification aids (keys) to plants found in the Hawaiian Islands. At present, a limited number of multi-access keys have been developed—the outline on the right provides links to the various subkeys covering basic plant forms (like vines or trees) or plant families (like grasses and eucalypts). Traditional paper-based flora treatments and dichotomous keys (paper or electronic) have limitations which cause them to be not ideal from the users’ point of view. A multi-access key is both interactive and allowing of the user to work with whatever morphological characters are available from an observation, specimen, or photograph. Often these are far from a complete set, making the sequence-based, traditional, dichotomous keys very difficult if not impossible to use reliably (Helen Hewson, CANBR, 2020). A multi-access key is less directed than a dichotomous key; the user is prompted to select from a list of characteristics, the selections (characters) forming the basis of a database search to generate a (hopefully) short list of species that fit the selected combination of characters. Generally, the more characters selected (that is, observed on the specimen at hand), the shorter the resulting list. However, the resulting list of possible species may not be reduced to a single correct identification (and a single match may not be correct if the plant you are examining is not in the database). The list obtained is all possible species in the database that fit the selected characters and further effort on the user's part may be required to arrive at a final, correct determination of the plant name. Obtaining a list of potential species can be a positive aspect of a multi-access key: the list is a group of perhaps similar-appearing species, including some the user may not have been aware of as potential correct identifications for the specimen at hand Becoming familiar with a particular MAK subkey can be useful in guiding the user to what characteristics should be noted when confronting an unknown plant in the field. For example, the MAK key to the conifers in Hawai‘i shows six character choices for a seed cone. If a specimen is viewed and not collected, understanding these six property categories will be invaluable when entering field notes into the key. The same can be said for the bark and leaf form, et cetera. |
PLANT WOODY
MONOCOTS EUDICOTS RESOURCES |
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A CPIE Notebook Project |