Since more than half of the entities within this tool are fruits or fruit parts, a suite of features was designed to help the user narrow down their choices within this group of plant parts.

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. 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 whether your specimen is a fruit, cone, or fruit part, either skip this feature, or consult the plant part - fruit feature page.

Clusters

Clusters present - A number of the types of fruits used as decorative botanicals may occur in clusters. Often they will also occur as singles, broken apart, but the key is scored to accommodate this. Here are a few fruits that are considered clusters:

 

 

 

 

Clusters absent - Here are some examples of fruits that are not in clusters:

 

 

 

 

If you have a specimen that occurs both in clusters and broken apart, you may choose one, both, or neither state for this feature. The key will work either way. However, you may be able to key down more quickly if you choose clusters, as there are relatively few entities in the key that occur in clusters.