taxonomic aids

Question

Which taxonomic aid is most suitable for identifying an unknown plant specimen using a sequence of contrasting characters?

RankGuru · Accepted Answer

1. **Taxonomic Aid**: Tools used by scientists to identify and classify organisms.
2. **Key**: A taxonomic key is a set of instructions based on **contrasting characters** (couplets). 
3. **Mechanism**: For each pair of characters, the user makes a choice (lead) based on the specimen's features, which then leads to another couplet until the organism is identified.
4. **Comparison**:
   - **Herbarium**: A storehouse of dried and pressed plant specimens.
   - **Museum**: Collection of preserved organisms for study and reference.
   - **Monograph**: Detailed account of a single taxonomic group (like a genus or family).

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taxonomic aids

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