The data matrix was analyzed using the key-generating package of programs DELTA. The analysis produced a conventional key with a detailed description of every species in terms of the 54 characters. The key is decidedly a marked improvement over its predecessors in that it is strictly comparative and leads directly to the full scientific name of any taxon, instead of having to use a key to the genera followed by a second key to the infra-generic taxa. | Annals of Agricultural Science 2015 60 1 67 85 H O S T E D BY Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams University Annals of Agricultural Science locate aoas Computer-generated keys to the flora of Egypt. 6. The Boraginaceae Abel El-Gazzar a Abbas El-Ghamery b AlBaraa El-Saied b Adel H. Khattab c Alaa A. El-Kady b a Botany Department Faculty of Science Suez Canal University El-Arish Branch N. Sinai Egypt b Department of Botany and Microbiology Faculty of Science Al-Azhar University Cairo Egypt c The Herbarium Botany Department Faculty of Science Cairo University Cairo Egypt Received 16 March 2015 accepted 23 March 2015 Available online 3 July 2015 KEYWORDS Abstract Manually-constructed keys to many groups of the Egyptian flora are in urgent need of Boraginaceae improvement and updating. To construct a conventional substitute of the key to representatives of Conventional key the Boraginaceae a data matrix was compiled to accommodate 54 characters recorded compara- DELTA tively for the 49 species belonging to 14 genera which represent this family in the flora of Egypt. Egypt The 54 characters were accurately and lucidly defined to cover as much of the easily observable Flora aspects of vegetative and floral variation in the plants as possible. The data matrix was analyzed Identification using the key-generating package of programs DELTA. The analysis produced a conventional key with a detailed description of every species in terms of the 54 characters. The key is decidedly a marked improvement over its predecessors in that it is strictly comparative and leads directly to the full scientific name of any taxon instead of having to use a key to the genera followed by a second key to the infra-generic taxa. ª 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier . on behalf of Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license http licenses by-nc-nd . Introduction rarely opposite with serrate or entire
