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Key to Indigofera

Fabaceae

Indigofera

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(c) Hall, Joshua
1 Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate.
  2 Stem pubescence simple, pilose and spreading
  2 Stem pubescence of T-shaped (medifixed) hairs, white, appressed
(c) Campos, Aidan
1 Leaves odd-pinnately compound, with 5+ leaflets.
(c) Wallace, Damien - CC-BY
(c) Fuller, Richard - CC0
    3 Leaflets borne alternately or irregularly on the rachis; prostrate or ascending herbs.
      4 Stipules subulate, < 1.5 mm wide; legumes divergent to deflexed, spaced on the rachis; flowers 6-10 per inflorescence
      4 Stipules deltate to lanceolate, 2-3 mm wide; legumes deflexed, crowded on the rachis; flowers many per inflorescence.
        5 Staminal tube (3.5-) 4-5 mm long, distinctly exceeding the calyx; leaves with 9-11 leaflets; leaflets 2.5-5× as long as wide; legumes dark brown, sharply deflexed, curving slightly inwards towards the rachis; infructescence 10-23 cm long
 Indigofera hendecaphylla
        5 Staminal tube 3-3.5 (-5) mm long, about as long as the calyx; leaves with 5-8 leaflets; leaflets 1.2-2.5× as long as wide; legumes tan, deflexed to spreading, straight; infructescence < 10 cm long
(c) Weakley, Alan
    3 Leaflets borne opposite on the rachis; mat-forming or ascending herbs, upright, bushy-branched herbs, or shrubs.
(c) Dasher, Leila - CC-BY
          6 Creeping, decumbent or ascending herbs; leaflets (3) 5-11 per leaf.
© Scott Ward
© Scott Ward
             7 Stem pubescence strigose-appressed; leaflets (3-) 5 per leaf.
             7 Stem pubescence hirsute or pilose with long brownish hairs; leaflets 5-11 per leaf.
(c) jhall3387 - CC-BY-NC
               8 Hairs of stem glandular; fruits spreading; leaflets (5-) 9-11 per leaf
(c) Dasher, Leila - CC-BY
               8 Hairs of stem non-glandular, brownish; fruits deflexed; leaflets 5-9 per leaf
(c) Weakley, Alan - CC0
          6 Erect, bushy-branched suffruticose herbs or shrubs; leaflets (7-) 9-15 per leaf.
(c) Dasher, Leila - CC-BY
                 9 Shrub; leaflets 20-75 (-100) mm long; corollas 12-18 mm long, bright pink or bright purple
                 9 Herb or suffrutescent herb; corollas 5-9 mm long, cream, rose, tan, yellow, greenish, orange, or purplish.
                   10 Legume 7-9 mm long, ovoid, not falcate, indehiscent, with 2-3 seeds; corolla 6-9 mm long; [native species]
                   10 Legume 15-36 mm long, linear-cylindric, slightly to strongly falcate, dehiscent, with 3-12 or more seeds; corolla 5-6 mm long; [introduced species].
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Key to Fabaceae, Key K: herbaceous legumes with pinnately trifoliolate leaves [subfamily Faboideae]

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1 Leaflets denticulate (sometimes inconspicuously so); [tribe Trifolieae].
  2 Inflorescences elongate racemes with an axis 5-15 cm long, the flowers well-spaced along the axis, the overall inflorescence much longer than its diameter
  2 Inflorescences umbellate or headlike clusters or short racemes with an axis < 2 cm long, the flowers closely clustered, the overall inflorescence little (if at all) longer than its diameter.
(c) Danielson, Erik
(c) Frumkin, Ron - CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG
    3 Legumes spirally coiled or curved, often tuberculate or prickly; stems 4-angled towards the tip; leaves pinnately trifoliolate; calyx actinomorphic
    3 Legumes straight or nearly so, never tuberculate or prickly; stems terete or flattened (2-angled) towards the tip; leaves palmately 3-foliolate; calyx zygomorphic
1 Leaflets entire (and sometimes also with 1 or 2 broad lobes), or with scattered, irregular large teeth (Pachyrhizus erosus).
      4 Main stems erect or ascending, not trailing, twining, or otherwise vine-like.
        5 Flowers not papilionaceous (the wings and keel epistemonous, arising terminally or laterally from the stamen tube), barely bilaterally symmetrical; stamens 5, monadelphous; [tribe Amorpheae]
          6 Plants with separate leafy and flowering stems (the flowering stems naked or nearly so of leaves).
             7 Standard bright red, remaining folded, 30-50 mm long; leaves hastately lobed; fruit a torulose legume, 6-20 cm long, the seeds red; [tribe Phaseoleae]
             7 Standard white or pink, expanded, 4-8 mm long; leaves not hastate; fruit a flattened loment, < 5 cm long, the seeds drab; [tribe Desmodieae]
          6 Plants bearing leaves and flowers on the same stems.
               8 Leaves, stems, and/or calyces glandular-punctate.
                 9 Corollas pink or lavender/purplish; leaflets estipellate; fruit 1-seeded, indehiscent; [tribe Psoraleae]
                 9 Corollas yellow; leaflets stipellate; fruit 2-many-seeded, dehiscent; [tribe Phaseoleae, subtribe Cajaninae]
               8 Leaves, stems, and calyces lacking punctate glands.
                   10 Leaflet blades large, at least the largest terminal leaflets on a plant > 5 cm long.
                       12 Fruit a legume (not segmented into 1-seed dispersal units), hairy but the hairs not hooked; [plants cultivated as garden plants, rare as waifs]
                       12 Fruit a loment (separating into single-seeded segments), uncinulate (with hooked hairs, the fruits attaching to hairs or clothes as 'stick-tights'); [plants widespread, common]
                          13 Fruit a loment (separating into single-seeded segments), uncinulate (with hooked hairs, the fruits attaching to hairs or clothes as 'stick-tights'); [plants widespread, common]
                          13 Fruit a legume (not segmented into 1-seed dispersal units), hairy but the hairs not hooked; [plants cultivated as crops or garden plants, rare as waifs]
                            14 Keel of corolla coiled 1-3 turns; stipules conspicuous, persistent, striate; [bush green beans or lima beans]
                   10 Leaflet blades smaller, all on a plant < 5 cm long.
                                16 Fruit a loment (separating into single-seeded segments), uncinulate (with hooked hairs, the fruits attaching to hairs or clothes as 'stick-tights')
                                16 Fruit a several- to many-seeded legume, glabrous to hairy (but not uncinulate)
                                       19 Petioles fused most of length with amplexicaul stipules, the leaves thus appearing sessile or nearly so; corollas lemon to orangy yellow; flowers subsessile; fruit a loment of 2 segments, the terminal segment fertile, the lower segment either sterile or fertile
                                       19 Petioles free from stipules, leaves evidently petiolate; corollas white to pink; flowers pedicellate; fruit either 1-seeded, or a loment normally with 3+ segments
                                         20 Fruit 1-seeded; terminal leaflets 1-5 cm long, 1.2-8× as long as wide; stamens diadelphous (9 and 1)
      4 Main stems trailing, twining, creeping, or climbing or sprawling over other vegetation.
                                           21 Leaves, stems, and calyces lacking punctate glands; corollas yellow, pink, purplish, white, red, blue.
                                                      26 Fruit a loment (separating into single-seeded segments), uncinulate (with hooked hairs, the fruits attaching to hairs or clothes as 'stick-tights').
                                                                 31 Keel petal and the included style either strongly curved upwards 90-180 degrees, or even more extensively coiled (asymmetrically and spirally) in towards the flower center; stems slender to thicker, > 0.75 mm in diameter.
                                                                   32 Keel petal and the included style strongly curved upwards 90-180 degrees; corollas yellow or pink to lavender (or whitish).
                                                                     33 Corollas yellow (except pink in V. unguiculata); corolla keel symmetrical; [mainly outer Coastal Plain, introduced inland]
                                                                   32 Keel petal and the included style extensively coiled > 180 degrees (asymmetrically and spirally) in towards the flower center; corollas pink, purple, maroon, purple-black (or whitish).
                                                                       34 Peduncles short, the flowers scattered along a (sometimes branched) raceme axis, the raceme axis about as long as or longer than the peduncle; plants uncinulate pubescent (use 20× magnification, or touch the plant for the 'tacky' feel)
                                                                                    40 Keel petal and the included style either strongly curved upwards 90-180 degrees, or even more extensively coiled (asymmetrically and spirally) in towards the flower center; style or stigma pubescent.