Using the Australian Mistletoe Key

Introduction to Identification

The Lucid key requires no extra software or plugins and runs through your web browser. The keys are simple to use and a glossary and help is provided for the features and characters. Images and a description are provided against the species and subspecies names.

The intent is to discard the species that do not match your specimen. During the identification process, as each feature is selected, the species that do not meet that feature are discarded, leaving only those that do: i.e., if Queensland is selected in the feature panel as the state where the specimen was found, then all those species that are not known to grow in Queensland are discarded.

Similarly for the other features. It is best to use only those features of which you are certain. If a feature is not known or you are uncertain, then do not select it, move on to another. You can select the features in any order and still progress to identifying the specimen.

Once you have reduced the number of species remaining to a few or even one, then check your specimen against the images and the profile or description provided.

Lucid Player Tips for the Mistletoe Key

The Lucid player has a menu bar at the top. By hovering the cursor over the icons their purpose is explained. The "?" help button provides an in-depth understanding of these icons and the way to use them to assist in the process.

To start the key. Click on the ">" next to the Loranthaceae and Santalaceae entities to open the list of taxa in each family.

Then click on the ">" next to the feature you have selected. This will open the features to show the characters. A click in the box next to the characters that match your specimen will discard the species that do not share this character and leave those that do.

Accessing maps, images and notes.

Features

A click on the small map of Australia opens it into a larger map of the country showing the states and their boundaries.

A click on the “page icon” of the biogeographic regions opens up the map of the biogeographic regions of Australia. This should only be used if the location of the plant and the region is certain.

A click on “page icon” of the Habitat opens up the map of Australian Vegetation. As with the biogeographic regions, only use if certain of the vegetation type.

Entities

A click on the thumbnail image next to each species will open a set of images relevant to the species. A few of the rarer species do not have images as these have proved almost impossible to access.

The “page icon” next to each species opens a link to a Flora of Australia profile or, where this is not available, to an extract from the published description of the species. Where there are sub-species, both the species and sub-species profiles are attached as the sub-species descriptions do not include the base species descriptions.

Roger Fryer
October 2023