Creating this key was harder than I thought it would be since I had to resist the urge to make it more complex than it really was. Also, I really wanted to try to describe the leaves but there were not enough (or too many?) dichotomies that I could see from the images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A. Plant has needle-like leaves – Plant 1
A. Plant has flat or diverse leaves – Plants 2, 3 & 4
– B. Flowers monoecious – Plant 4
– B. Flowers bisexual – Plants 2 & 3
– – C. Petals white – Plant 2
– – C. Petals purple – Plant 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sure do hope that there are multiple correct answers for this exercise – fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m guessing that the purple flower is Pulsatilla patens L<\/em>. ? This is what Hult\u00e9n say about Pulsatilla patens L.<\/em> followed by the botanical terms<\/strong> defined<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Silky-villous<\/strong>; silky-bearing long soft (not interwoven) hairs<\/em> There is no mention of petals in the description above that I can see – why is that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dichotomous Key Identification Exercise:<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Creating this key was harder than I thought it would be since I had to resist the urge to make it more complex than it really was. Also, I really wanted to try to describe the leaves but there were not enough (or too many?) dichotomies that I could see from the images. A. Plant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dichotomous-keys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3566\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/introtoflora.frontierbotany.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
I didn’t know how to describe the leaf so I decided to dissect Hult\u00e9n’s description to help me understand what to look for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
stems from vertical, dark-brown, many headed caudex<\/strong>; woody, perennial base of an otherwise herbaceous stem<\/em>
basal leaves developing after floration, ternately <\/strong>divided into three segments<\/em>, the divisions 2- or 3- partner into numerous narrow segments;
the very villous involucrum<\/strong> whorl of bracts subtending a flower cluster<\/em>, deeply cleft into narrow, lanceolate, acute lobes;
sepals blue or purple;
staminodia<\/strong> sterile stamens, or any other structure without anther corresponding to a stamen<\/em> gland like;
fruit plumose<\/strong> having fine hairs on each side;<\/em> feathery when ripe.”
~Hult\u00e9n, Flora of Alaska p. 466<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
I would like confirmation that the Purple violet in the images is V. nephrophylla<\/em> and that the White violet is V. renifolia<\/em> var. brainerdii<\/em>.
I feel pretty confident that the Spruces shown are 1. Picea glauca<\/em> and 2. Picea mariana<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n