MIAMI UNIVERSITY DENDROLOGY EXPERT SYSTEM (MUDES)
DEVELOPED USING
XID SERVICES, INC.
Expert Identification Systems
Post Office Box 272, Pullman, Washington 99163
Phone or Fax: (509) 332-2989
Phone Toll Free: 1-800-USA-2XID (1-800-872-2943)
hittp://www.pullman.com/Business/xid
e-mail: rold@pullman.com
XID IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM USER' S GUIDE
With Tutorial Database
Version 1.3 For Windows
Copyright 1997 - 1998, XID Services, Inc.
HTML Version Created by
Roger D. Meicenheimer
2000
USING THE XID IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM
A TUTORIAL
FOR WINDOWS VERSION 1.2
CONTENTS
Text in Bold indicates user action.
Text in Italics indicates XID/MUDES menu items.
STARTING XID/MUDES
NO INSTALLATION IS NECESSARY FOR THE MUDES.
IF YOU ARE USING THE MUDES DIRECTLY FROM THE CD:
-
Click on XIDW/XIDW.EXE on the CD to start the
program.
IF YOU ARE USING A SONY 505 LAPTOP ON WHICH THE MUDES HAS BEEN
INSTALLED:
-
Double click the MUDES shortcut icon.
-
A new screen appears. Click the "open folder"
icon near the upper left comer.
-
Place the highlight bar on Database for XID Tutorial
(demoweed.xid), if it is not already there.
-
Click OK. The cover screen for the XID
Tutorial Database now appears.
-
Click OK.
Return to Table of Contents
IDENTIFYING
A PLANT USING ATTRIBUTES OF YOUR CHOICE
The current screen shows the main menu headings available
under Database for XID Tutorial. In this exercise you
will identify Canada thistle by saying that it has spiny leaves, rhizomes,
and wind-blown seeds. These choices could be entered in any order. Note
the line on the bottom margin of the box shows that there are currently
72 species remaining in the database. The highlight bar is on General.
-
Double click the highlight bar.
-
Double click Spines or Thorns.
-
Double click Spines on leaves and/or stems.
Note that the number of species remaining is now 7.
-
Click Close to return to the General
menu.
-
Double click Wind Dissemination.
-
Double click Fruit, seed, or spore wind borne.
A message appears on the screen: Family Identified. This means
that all species remaining in the database belong to the same plant family,
in this case Asteraceae.
-
Click OK to clear this message. Note that
the number of species remaining is now 3.
-
Click Close to return to the General
menu.
-
The next character which you will use is rhizomes, which
is not found under General. Click Close to return
to the Database for XID Tutorial main menu.
-
Double click Root and/or Vegetative Propagule.
-
Double click Rhizomatous. A message now
appears on the screen: Species identified and provides you with
the name of the plant. Click OK to clear the message.
-
Click Species List. The name of the plant
identified is the only one on the fist at this point so it is highlighted.
-
Click Species Help. A text box with some
interesting information about Canada thistle appears. As you will
see later it is also possible to display a picture of the species at this
point (if available).
-
Click Close to close the Species Help
screen.
-
Click Close to close the Remaining
Species List.
-
Click Reset XID. Note that the number
of species remaining returns to 72 and all of the menu options under Root
and/or Vegetative propagule reappear.
-
Click Close (or press Escape) to
return to the main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
USING THE "YES," "NO,"
"OR" COMMANDS
YES:
-
Double click Flowers.
-
Double click Flower Color.
-
Double click Yellow. A YES mark
now appears to the left of Yellow, and the number of species remaining
is 25. You have said the color of the flower on your plant specimen IS
yellow.
-
Click Delete Mark to remove the mark.
Note that the number of species returns to 72.
-
Marking more than one attribute in a menu with a Yes
mark causes the attributes to be combined as "AND." For example: Double
click Yellow. Note that the number of species remaining is 25.
Double click Purple. The number of species remaining is now
2. You have said that your flower is BOTH yellow AND purple in color,
or that both yellow AND purple flowers are present within the species
(these situations can be distinguished by marking the Multi-colored attribute).
-
Click Clear menu (or Reset XID)
to clear both marks you have made.
NO:
-
Click Green.
-
Click Mark No. A NO mark now appears to
the left of Green, and the number of species remaining is 67. You have
said that the color of the flower on your specimen IS NOT green.
-
Click Delete Mark to remove the mark.
Note that the number of species returns to 72. NO marks eliminate only
those species/items that are marked exclusively for that character. For
example, marking most families as NO will eliminate that family, but some
families have more than one name (i.e., Asteraceae and Compositae)
and either one can be selected in the Family menu. To
eliminate a family with more than one name, both names must be marked as
NO in the Family menu.
OR:
-
Click Orange, Click Mark Or.
An OR mark now appears to the left of Orange, and the number
of species remaining has disappeared and will not return until you complete
the operation.
-
Click Yellow-orange. Click Mark
Or.
-
Click Yellow. Click Mark
Or. Note that the OR mark now also appears to the left of
Yellow-orange and Yellow.
-
Click Quit OR Marking. The number of species
remaining is now 25. You have said that you are unsure of the color of
the flower on your specimen, but that it is either yellow OR orange OR
yellow-orange.
-
Use the OR technique any time you are unsure
of the exact answer. This is very helpful for highly variable attributes
such as leaf shape and plant height.
-
Click Clear menu to clear all the marks
you have made in the Flower Color menu. Note the number of species
remaining returns to 72.
Return to Table of Contents
IDENTIFYING
A PLANT BY ASKING FOR SUGGESTIONS (ANALYSIS)
In this exercise you will use the Analysis
function to aid in identifying a dandelion.
-
Click Analysis. A screen entitled Attribute
Menu Analysis appears. This is a list of suggestions for attributes
which will be useful in identifying your plant. These attributes
are listed in descending order for maximum convergence on identification
of the unknown. What this means is if you can use the first attribute,
this has the highest probability of descriminating remaining species from
one another. Note, however, you can use these attributes in any order
that is convenient for you.
-
Double click Flower Color.
-
Double click Yellow. Note that the number
of species remaining is now 25.
-
Click Analysis.
-
Double click (Root and/or Vegetative Propagule).
-
Double click Tap Root. The number of species
remaining is now 18.
-
Click Analysis.
-
Double click Flower Width (Head width in Comps).
-
Double click 2.5 cm (1. 0 inch). The number
of species remaining is now 9.
-
Click Analysis.
-
Double click Wind Dissemination.
-
Double click Fruit, seed, or spore wind borne.
A message appears: Family Identified. This means that all species
remaining in the database belong to the same plant family, in this case
Asteraceae.
-
Click OK to clear the Family Identified
message. The number of species remaining in the database is now 4.
-
Click Analysis.
-
Double click Leaf Arrangement.
-
Double click All basal. The number of
species remaining is now 2.
-
Click Analysis.
-
Double click Main Stem Branches.
-
Double click Main Stem Unbranched. A message
appears: Species Identified and provides you with the name of the
plant identified (dandelion).
-
Click OK to clear the Species Identified
message.
-
Click Reset XID to delete all marks you
have made on the menus. Notice that the total number of species remaining
now returns to 72.
-
Click Close twice to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Marking attributes of your choice with YES,
OR, NO can be combined in any sequence with asking the program for
suggestions (Analysis).
Return to Table of Contents
SHOW DATA DISTRIBUTION
Examining the distribution of attributes among species within the database
can sometimes be helpful in selecting attributes useful for rapid identification.
Attributes that are shared by many species are less useful for identification
than attributes that are unique or shared by only a few species.
-
Double click Flowers.
-
Double click Flower Color. The number
of species remaining is 72.
-
Click Distribution. The number of species/items
in the database with each of the attributes is shown on the left. This
screen tells you that for this database Yellow and White
are common flower colors, but Red-orange and Yellow-green
are rare flower colors. Although it is possible to highlight the
attributes, this is a "read only" screen and they can not be selected.
-
Click Close to clear the data distribution
screen.
-
Click Mark No with each flower color highlighted
to discover which species has no data in this menu. Note how the
number of species remaining decreases with each mark until the Species
Identified message appears.
-
Click OK to clear the Species Identified
message.
-
Click Clear Menu to remove the marks,
-
Click Close twice to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
SHOW MARKS
Sometimes it is useful to review what attributes you have selected during
the identification process. This allows you to verify what you have
selected and alter your decision if appropriate.
-
Double click General.
-
Double click Milky Juice.
-
Double Click Juice milky (9 species remain).
-
Click Close twice to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
-
Double click Leaves.
-
Double click Leaf Arrangement.
-
Double click Opposite. A message appears:
Genus Identified. Euphorbia.
-
Click OK to clear the Genus Identified
message.
-
Click Species List to list the remaining
species.
-
Click View Marks. At the top of the screen
it shows you what you have done, i.e., YES for Juice milky and YES
for Opposite. At the bottom is a list of all attributes common to
the two remaining species. You can page down or scroll down through
this list.
-
Click Close four times to return to the
Database for XID Tutorial main menu.
-
Click Reset XID to clear all the marks
you have made. You can selectively alter marks by entering the appropriate
attribute menu and making changes.
Return to Table of Contents
LIST SPECIES/ITEMS
AND VIEW REFERENCES
-
Click Species List to list the species
in the database. Bedstraw, catchweed is highlighted.
-
Click Scientific in the Names box,
to toggle the list from common to scientific names with the highlighted
species remaining the same (Galium aparine is the scientific name
for catchweed bedstraw).
-
Click Common to return to common names.
-
Click bindweed, field.
-
Click References. A screen titled References
for bindweed, field appears. This screen shows where you can look up
the selected weed in four commonly used weed books. This list can contain
as many references as the author wishes to provide.
-
Click Close to return to the Species
List.
-
Click Close to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
VIEW SPECIES/ITEM
DATA
-
Click Species List while in any menu to
bring up the list of species/items remaining.
-
Pressing Enter or clicking View
Data while any species/item is highlighted will allow you to view
all of the data for that species/item. You can page or scroll through the
data. View the data for any species.
-
Click Close (or the X button) to
return to the species/items list.
Return to Table of Contents
SHOW UNUSUAL FEATURES
-
Click bedstraw, catchweed.
-
Click Unusual Attributes. A screen
titled Distinctive Attributes of bedstraw, catchweed appears.
The number of species/items with each attribute is listed on the left hand
side of the screen in order of increasing frequency. Therefore, catchweed
bedstraw is the only species with a leaf arrangement of Whorled 5
- 8 per node, 1 of 6 species which is a Climbing vine, and 1 of 12
species with 4 petals, etc. This screen should be thought of as containing
features the species/item MAY have. These features are not necessarily
mandatory. For example, a plant species may have white flowers and blue
flowers; the blue flowers could be a unique feature, but your specimen
might only have white flowers. If your specimen had blue flowers, however,
this screen would have provided a good clue.
-
Click Close to return to the Species
List.
-
Click Close again to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
ELIMINATING
SPECIES/ITEMS OF YOUR CHOICE
Assume you know the specimen you are trying to identify IS NOT buffalobur,
prairie wild rose, common teasel, or Russian thistle.
-
Double click General.
-
Double click Spines or Thorns.
-
Double click Spines on leaves and/or stems
(7 species remain).
-
Click Species List to list the remaining
species.
-
Click Eliminate while EACH of these four
species is highlighted. This leaves a NO mark to the left of each
of these species. Upon marking the fourth species, a Family Identified
message appears on the screen. This means that the remaining three species
are all in the same family, Asteraceae. Eliminating species/items
in this manner is very helpful because now when you click Analysis,
the suggestions provided will be completely different than they would have
been to distinguish between all seven species/items since the program now
tells you how to distinguish between only the remaining three species/items
in the database.
-
Click OK to clear the Family Identified
message.
-
Click Close three times to return to the
Datahase for XID Tutorial main menu.
-
Click Reset XID to clear a marks.
Return to Table of Contents
MENU HELP
-
Double click Leaves.
-
Double click Leaf Type.
-
Click Simple.
-
Click Selection Help. The help text box
appears with a description of a simple leaf and reference to the
book Plant Identification Terminology. At the bottom of the screen
you will see the simple leaf image and text. If the entire screen is not
visible you may use the scroll bar or maximize button.
-
Click Close to clear the Simple leaf
help screen.
-
Click Close. The highlight bar is now
on the parent menu Leaf Type.
-
Click Selection Help. The Leaf Type
image now appears and allows you to compare the various leaftypes.
-
Click Close to clear the Leaf Type
help screen.
-
Click Close. The highlight bar is now
on the parent menu Leaves.
-
Click Selection Help. The image now allows
you to view basic leaf structures and compare simple and compound leaves.
-
Click Close to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
If no help exists for any given menu or attribute,
the help is automatically given for the next higher menu level.
Return to Table of Contents
SPECIES/ITEM HELP
-
Click Species List. If images have been
entered into the program, any species/item can be highlighted and then
the Species Help button clicked to display the image of that species/item.
These images can be anything from black and white line drawings to full
color photos. There are line drawings in the demonstration database for
plantain, broadleaf and plantain, buckhorn. Whether
displayed by common or scientific names, the species list is always alphabetical.
You
-
can reach any species on the list by using the scroll bar or by typing
its name, i.e. typing p moves the highlight bar to the first
species beginning with p, if you then type l the highlight
bar moves to the first species beginning with pl.
-
Move the highlight bar to plantain, broadleaf.
-
Click Species Help.
-
The species image and help text box for plantain,
broadleaf appears. You can view the entire image by using the scroll
bar on the large box or in less detail by clicking the Zoom
button.
-
Click Close (or X) to clear the
Species Help screen.
-
Highlight dandelion.
-
Click Species Help. Even though no image
is shown, this screen gives you general information about the species which
was highlighted. This information may include edibility or toxicity, hints
on identification, folklore, and other information which is not well-suited
to a data format.
-
Click Close to return to the Species
List.
-
Click Close to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
PROGRAM HELP
No matter where you are in the program, clicking
Help provides you with detailed, context specific help that explains
how to use the screen you were on when you clicked Help.
-
You are now in the main menu of submenus. Click
Help. The Using a Menu of Submenus help screen appears.
-
Click the X (close) button to close the
Help screen.
-
Click Analysis. Click Help. The
Attribute Menu Analysis help screen appears.
-
Click the X (close) button twice
to return to the Database for XID Tutorial main menu.
When using the program, try clicking Help each time you see a new
screen.
Return to Table of Contents
INVISIBLE MENUS/ATTRIBUTES
As menus and attributes become non-applicable to
the identification process, they also become "invisible" preventing the
user from selecting impossible choices and greatly reducing the complexity
of the menu structure.
-
For example, in the Database for XID Tutorial
main menu, double click Family. Thirty seven families are
listed (you can scroll down to see them all).
-
Click Close.
-
Double click General. Note that there
are nine submenus to choose from in the General menu.
-
Double click Milky Juice.
-
Double click Juice milky. Note that nine
species remain.
-
Click Close to return to the General
menu. Note that there are now only six submenus remaining. This is
due to the fact that no species in the database with milky juice can be
distinguished by whether or not they are Spiny, Aromatic, or have
Chlorophyll. Therefore, these menus are no longer relevant and become
invisible.
-
Click Close to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
-
Double click Family. Note that only five
families are now listed in the menu. These are the only families in the
database which contain species with milky juice.
-
Click Close to return to the Database
for XID Tutorial main menu.
Return to Table of Contents
NOTES
If you are sure your specimen has an attribute
that is not in a menu (but the menu appears, with other attributes), your
species might not be in the database, the author may have chosen not to
include that attribute, or you may have made an incorrect mark elsewhere,
causing the attribute you seek to become invisible. For example,
if your specimen has white flowers but the only choices in the Flower
Color menu are Yellow and Purple, you can click Distribution
to see if the author included white as a flower color and to see if it
has disappeared. If it is shown, you should go to the Species List
and click View Marks to display a summary of the marks you have
made. if there is a mark that is somewhat in doubt, go to it in the
menu system and delete it (by highlighting the marked attribute and clicking
the Delete button. This usually increases the number of species/items
remaining and can allow you to get back on the right track if you have
made a mistake.
In the demo database, "false" data is used when it
will make the program more efficient for the unskilled user. For example,
a dandelion appears to have many petals, but actually they are many separate
flowers, each of which has five petals. The data for the menu Number
of petals therefore is marked for both five and >10.
In the help screens of the demo database, sometimes
a reference into the text Plant Identification Terminology (Harris
& Harris 1994) is given to further expand upon terminology used in
the program. The abbreviation "PIT" is used. This book is in print and
can be ordered through most book stores or is available through XID Services.
Many families have more than one name (i.e., Asteraceae
and Compositae), and either one can be selected in the Family
menu. To eliminate such a family, however, both names must be marked as
NO in the Family menu.
When you have no more use for the Tutorial
Database, you can delete it from the XID directory by deleting the
file demoweedxid.
Return to Table of Contents
EXITING THE PROGRAM
-
Click Close (or press Escape)
until the XID Identification System screen appears blank.
-
Click the X (close) button in the upper
right hand corner.
Return to Table of Contents
TIPS ON MAXIMIZING
SUCCESS WITH THE MUDES
There are many ways to successfully identify tree species, the following
appears to be a common strategy adopted by many students with good results:
-
Closely examine the unknown tree in its entirety, to select a good representative
branch on the specimen.
-
Note any unusual features that are present. Enter these first to
reduce the database size and menu structure.
-
Enter attributes that you are absolutely sure are present on your specimen.
-
Utilize the Analysis feature to help you decide what features to
look for next. After each attribute entry, rerun the Analysis
feature.
Return to Table of Contents