Optimized Botanical Key

Side-by-side comparison: greedy information-gain optimized order vs. random trait order. Both use 20 of 157 traits to identify 478 species.

% % unique species

0.0%

0.4%

0.0%

1.1%

0.0%

1.9%

4.6%

3.4%

17.6%

4.4%

29.3%

4.6%

50.0%

6.3%

60.7%

8.6%

73.6%

10.0%

78.5%

11.9%

83.9%

15.9%

87.5%

23.0%

90.2%

31.6%

92.1%

37.7%

93.5%

42.9%

94.4%

49.6%

95.4%

50.6%

Optimized order (greedy) Random order

#	Trait	IG	% unique species	Largest group
1	Crop fields, roadsides, disturbed places	1.000	0.0%	239
2	Fulla de 1 a 5cm	0.996	0.0%	130
3	Leaf without petiole	0.991	0.0%	78
4	March flowering	0.980	0.0%	44
5	Glabrous plant	0.953	0.0%	29
6	Regular flower	0.920	0.0%	18
7	Indehiscent fruit	0.834	4.6%	14
8	Yellow or cream flower	0.646	17.6%	11
9	Leaf 5 to 10cm long	0.496	29.3%	7
10	July flowering	0.379	50.0%	6
11	Petal size 5 to 10mm	0.209	60.7%	5
12	Divided leaf or leaflet margin	0.160	73.6%	5
13	Fused sepals or tepals	0.086	78.5%	5
14	White flower	0.062	83.9%	5
15	Oval to obovate leaf	0.040	87.5%	5
16	May flowering	0.031	90.2%	5
17	February flowering	0.024	92.1%	4
18	Rocky coast	0.019	93.5%	3
19	Glandular plant	0.016	94.4%	3
20	Pink or purple flower	0.014	95.4%	2

#	Trait	% unique species	Largest group
1	Petal size 10 to 20mm	0.0%	337
2	Alternate leaves	0.0%	215
3	Non-green plant	0.0%	212
4	Petals with toothed apex	0.4%	190
5	Fused sepals or tepals	1.1%	104
6	Numerous petals or tepals	1.9%	104
7	October flowering	3.4%	78
8	Plant with bulb, corm or tuber	4.4%	73
9	Tree	4.6%	63
10	Glandular plant	6.3%	62
11	Herbaceous plant	8.6%	42
12	Silicicolous therophytic grasslands	10.0%	41
13	Parallel venation	11.9%	41
14	Rocky coast	15.9%	38
15	Yellow or cream flower	23.0%	20
16	Petal size more than 20mm	31.6%	19
17	Indehiscent fruit	37.7%	15
18	Deeply lobed leaf	42.9%	15
19	Regular flower	49.6%	13
20	Lobed or laciniate petals	50.6%	13