This page provides additional detail on the identification process. It is not necessary to read this to use the program.
There are up to five identification forms each containing one or more groups of buttons.The exact number of pages depends on the database selected.
In some cases there may be more than one allowable answer, for example, some plants flower during several months of the year. This is allowed for where necessary by allowing more than one button to be a correct answer. If you have more than one specimen you need only select the button that best matches one, rather than attempt to find a compromise between all of them.
It is impossible to include every variation in colour in the program, what you need to do is choose the colour that is the closest approximation to that of a single specimen.
If you click the Match button without answering any of the questions the previous database order is unchanged.
There may be some variation between individual specimens of a species in size or colour.
In addition, some of the criteria used are not very reliable. For example, a diseased tree may bear small and malformed fruit and unseasonably warm weather may cause flowers to develop early.
Always using exact matching on all criteria would often result in the plant not being identified as a result of just one 'wrong' answer. For these reasons, exact matching is not used by default, rather each in the database is assigned a score for how closely it matches your selections.
Note that for every database there is a Primary Criterion. This is always question one on the identification forms. Because this is usually a more reliable guide to the species than other questions, it is assigned a much higher weighting. Getting this one wrong will probably lead to an incorrect identification even though you have clicked other buttons correctly. To repeat the previous section, if you are uncertain of an answer, do not attempt one at all as a wrong answer diminishes chance of a correct match. This is particularly true of question one!
The presentation of matched plants depends on the option selected on the options menu:
Whether exact match or closest match is selected, you may always view the complete database from either the name browser or the thumbnail browser. After an identification, either of these will show the entire database in descending order of closeness to your criteria.
The match score is based on an arbitrary points system; it should not be taken as a probability or any other scientific measure. As far as we know, nobody has developed an exact mathematical system for identifying plants. A 100% score is an exact match, but there may be no particular significance in lower scores. Most importantly, the same lower score does not imply two plants are in any way related, simply that there are a similar number of right answers of the same weighting.
The program only discriminates by button choice. For example, the Wayfaring tree and the Wild Privet are both in the shortest range of tree heights and are therefore treated identically. They may appear in either order in the browser since the program has no means of telling that the former will usually grow to be the taller of the two.
Similarly, since the matching can only discriminate between right and wrong answers and cannot judge between different wrong answers there will be no particular order that 'wrong' plants appear in the browser.
In some cases, where it is sensible to do so, you can sort by criteria in order of identification buttons using the Species Grouping Dialog.