Abstract
SummaryThe evaluation and selection of characters are both of great importance in Angiosperm taxonomy. Fifty‐two morphological characters, observed in two hundred and seventy‐three African species of Crotalaria L., are analysed using a taximetric procedure, ‘Character Analysis’, which provides a quantitative measure of their potential taxonomic value, the ‘information contribution’. The characters are listed in descending order of information contribution and compared with the relative importance given to them by Polhill in his previously published orthodox study of the genus. The four characters used by Polhill for his major division are among those highest on the list, and only two of the twenty that he used for the delimitation of sections occur in the lower half of the list.The taxonomic value of a character is dependent on how it is defined. The way in which the information contribution measure can be used in the production of better definitions of poor characters is described, and one successful example of ‘Character Improvement’ is given.The potential value of these taximetric procedures in taxonomic revisions of large genera and families with complex reticulate patterns of variation is discussed.
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