Computer-generated keys to the flora of Egypt. 6. The Boraginaceae

Abstract Manually-constructed keys to many groups of the Egyptian flora are in urgent need of improvement and updating. To construct a conventional substitute of the key to representatives of the Boraginaceae, a data matrix was compiled to accommodate 54 characters recorded comparatively for the 49 species belonging to 14 genera which represent this family in the flora of Egypt. The 54 characters were accurately and lucidly defined to cover as much of the easily observable aspects of vegetative and floral variation in the plants as possible. 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.