Many decorative dried botanicals have been modified to some extent from their original form. At a minimum, most specimens will have been dyed and/or scented. Some will be easily recognizable as a particular plant part, but others will no longer look at all like the plant part they actually are. For instance, leaves may be woven or cut to look like flowers. We have tried to account for this in the construction of the key. However, it is still recommended that the user maintain a certain degree of flexibility in the selection of states. If you are not sure which plant part you have, either skip this feature, try using the “Other or difficult to discern” state, or choose more than one state to avoid excluding your specimen.

Fruits, cones, and seeds

Whole fruits - This state is intended to include only fruits in their whole, unaltered, state. There are many types of fruits. Fruits may be dry or fleshy, dehiscent (opening to release seeds) or indehiscent (non-opening), simple or aggregate. The immense variation in types of fruits can sometimes make them difficult to recognize as fruits. Some examples of whole fruits:

 

 

 

 

Fruit parts or modified fruits - This state is intended to include fruits that have been broken apart into their natural constituent pieces, manually cut or sliced, or otherwise modified in some way. This may include parts of capsule fruits, slices of fruits, bracts associated with fruits, etc. (Note that modification does not include color modification or dying.) Some examples of fruit parts or modified fruits:

 

 

 

 

Cones or cone-like fruit - This state includes cones from conifers such as pine or spruce as well as fruits that closely resemble this type of cones. Conifers cones are not true fruits in the botanical sense, but they serve a similar purpose as a structure that bears seeds, and they may be used for dispersal of those seeds in a similar way. Some flowering plants bear fruit that closely resemble conifer cones, so those have been included in this state. (Note that these cone-like fruits are also considered whole fruits in the key to maintain scientific validity of the key.) Some examples of cones or or cone-like fruits:

 

 

 

 

Seeds - Seeds that are included in this tool come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some are easily recognizable as seeds, while others may look more like fruits, or vice versa. The key is designed to accommodate this potential confusion. Here are a few examples of seeds: