ANU Key for Families of Dicotyledons

The ANU Xylarium is one of Australia’s only curated wood collections. From the first samples collected in 1926 for wood identification and teaching, the collection has expanded rapidly and is now supported by physical index cards that permit the identification of wood and plant families based on macroscopic traits. This key focuses on one of the punched card systems held in the ANU Xylarium, and is used for the identification of plant families based on botanical traits. First created in 1955 by N. Hall and R.D. Johnston (under the Commonwealth of Australia’s Department of National Development Forestry and Timber Bureau), this punched card system was created to aid in the identification of plants within the class Dicotyledoneae. It is based on the classification of Hutchinson in “The Families of Flowering Plants” (1926).

ANU has created a digital version of the card punched system to preserve the original cards from 1964, while also simplifying and accelerating plant identification for field-based teaching and research.

Authors

CLAIRE SHERIDAN (ANU Research Initiatives & Infrastructure, [email protected])
PROFESSOR MATTHEW BROOKHOUSE (ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, [email protected]