Dichotomous Key

Thursday in BHC (Biology and Human Concerns) our lab consisted of going outside and finding different branches of leaves from the various species growing here on campus and finding ways to differentiate each species from the others. This tasked at first seemed near impossible, because none of the class, myself included, new much of anything about the distinctive characteristics that made each species of tree unique. Once Dr. Adkins found enough samples for the class lesson he gave my classmates and I various combinations of three or five different samples and told us to create a Dichotomous Key. I should preface that statement by telling you that Dr. Adkins did not just throw us into the fire, he first explained a Dichotomous Key and then gave us a few distinguishing visual traits of different trees to go by. Using our visual observations of the samples and a sheet of different characteristics found in trees, these characteristics consisted of blade type, vein position, leaf arrangement, and number of leaves per bud. By simply observing these plants we were able to distinguish each sample from the others. At first We thought this task immeasurable but by the end if you asked anyone in the class, they'd say we were all professionals. Following that lab, I am amazed by how many different species of tree there are in just one block of a college campus in downtown Lexington! Now, I seem to observe various trees and think to myself what blade type it has or maybe observe that the tree has compound leaves, or maybe its leaves alternate.