Computer-generated keys to the flora of Egypt. 7. The Acanthaceae s.l.

摘要

A conventional key and its tabular version to the 36 species from 21 genera of the Acanthaceae s.l. in Egypt are provided. The key is based on 48 characters of vegetative and floral morphology recorded comparatively for the species. The key-generating package of computer programs DELTA was used to construct the keys and to provide detailed and coded descriptions of the species in terms of the recorded characters. The set of 36 species includes the ten species growing spontaneously in the country and 26 species grown as garden ornamentals. The key and detailed descriptions provided are a marked improvement over previous keys and descriptions of the wild species and an entirely novel means of identifying the cultivated ones. The present study is the first application in Egypt of the DELTA suite of programs to generate identification keys to cultivated plants. All 48 characters are easily observable so that the key is equally easy to use in laboratories and on excursions by amateur and professional botanists.