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Living things and keys

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What this model shows

The leaves are pictures of real kinds of pressed leaves. The key is a teaching key for these six trees only: a key for a whole wood or a country needs many more pairs, and other features such as bark, flowers and fruit.

The DNA strips are made up: 12 bases chosen to show the idea, not real DNA from these trees. Real comparisons use thousands of bases or more.

ABCDEFKey to six trees1leaflets→ go to 2one blade→ go to 32from one point→ horse chestnutin pairs, one at tip→ ash3sharp spines→ hollyno spines→ go to 44lobes along midrib→ English oaklobes from one point→ go to 55lobes toothed→ sycamorelobes smooth→ field mapleDNApaperbeechsilver birchrowanScots pine