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.

Other or can't tell

Fungus or lichen - A number of different fungal fruiting bodies (ie dried mushrooms) and lichens are used as decorative dried botanicals. These are usually fairly easy to recognize for what they are, but here are a few examples:

 

 

 

 

Difficult to discern - This particular state is a fairly important one for this key. It should be noted that it is not intended as a "catch-all." Rather, it is intended to be used for those types of specimens that truly are difficult to recognize as a particular plant part. This may be due to a variety of reasons. It may be that the part has been so highly modified that it is difficult to discern what it originally was, it could be difficult to recognize out of context (such as a bract that would subtend a flower or fruit), it might be easily confused as another part, or it could be that it simply is a plant or part that is somewhat obscure. Here are a few examples of this type of material: