Enthusiast Group (AEG)

Interactive Key

Arisaema (Araceae) of the world: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval; including Morphology, Classification, World Distribution

Guy & Liliane Gusman, Eric Gouda, Pim Bongaerts & Joost van Gijn

Introduction

This package is generated from a DELTA database (Dallwitz 1980; Dallwitz, Paine, and Zurcher 1993). It comprises an interactive identification and information retrieval system using the program Intkey (running under MS-Windows), descriptions, illustrations, references, and other subsidiary material. If you have Intkey already installed, press here to start the interactive identification.

The database contains morphological descriptions of species (Gusman 2002, The Genus Arisaema - A Monograph for Botanists and Nature Lovers -). The descriptive terminology employed here is mostly in line with normal agrostological usage, as set out in modern textbooks, monographs and regional floras. Detailed, written Character Notes have yet to be entered for many of the characters, but the copious character illustrations now provided should facilitate differentiating between character states.

It is easy, using Intkey, to obtain lists of genera exhibiting or lacking particular features or combinations of features; to cross reference attributes with geographical distributions and taxonomic groupings; to compare the existing sections and subsections with one another, and with proposed alternative groupings, in terms of the available descriptive data (with statistical details of character state distibutions); to obtain lists of genera for which information on particular features is lacking; to locate generic synonyms; and to obtain printouts of all such information. For information on the more sophisticated uses of this package, see ‘Hints on using Intkey’ (available within the Intkey package). The notes provided there, and published examples (Watson et al. 1989, Bruhl et al. 1992) exemplify the kinds of questions you can pursue using Intkey, and illustrate applications of the most commonly used directives. Need Intkey? Download Here.

The present package is illustrated by several line drawings (characters and states) and many color images (mainly taxa). The same suite of images is currently employed to illustrate both taxa and characters, with critical features ‘hotspotted’ in the interactive identificatory context (locate hotspots by trailing your mouse cursor over the images). Many character states are exemplified by several images, in an attempt to indicate the ranges of variation they encompass; and some genera are represented by several to many taxon images.

If you do not want to use Intkey, you can use the traditional identification key.

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Last modified: October 2005 by E.J.Gouda