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1 Corolla strongly frontally flattened in life; flower 'throat' yellow; spur short, up to 3 mm long; stipules deeply pinnately lobed with few to many lateral segments, the terminal lobe resembling the leaf blades; leaf blades linear-lanceolate to elliptical, base cuneate to truncate; plants annual or biennial, without thickish rootstock; [of weedy habitats]. | |
2 Petals shorter than the sepals or scarcely surpassing them by 1-2 mm, cream-white (slightly yellowish); sepals nearly or fully concealing capsule | |
2 Petals well surpassing sepals, pale blue to violet (infrequently cream-white) or multicolored; sepals neither surpassing nor concealing capsule. | |
3 Petals uniformly pale blue or cream-white, concolorous distally; terminal lobe of stipules with 0-3 crenations on each margin; quadrate stems recurved-puberulent or -hispidulous on face directly above a leaf node but essentially glabrous on the other faces; leaves all cauline | |
4 Flowers < 1 cm long in profile; lower three petals cream-white, upper two purple-black at least in distal half; [occasional escape] | |
4 Flowers > 1.5 cm long in profile; all petals variously colored, often with broad black border; [barely persistent following cultivation] | |
5 Current year’s stems ascending at chasmogamous flowering time, persistent through winter to become prostrate and root at the nodes, generating the following year's plants at their tips (plants thus mat-forming). | |
6 Foliage glabrous except for small scattered subappressed hairs on upper surface of leaf blades (especially near the margins), peduncles and stems glabrous; upper surface of leaf blades uniformly green; stipules weakly lacerate, with marginal processes < ¼ as long as the stipule; [moist loam of riverbanks and lawns, Appalachian, rare] | |
6 Foliage, peduncles and stems densely puberulent; upper surface of leaf blades silvery- to gray-green with darker green veins; stipules deeply laciniate with marginal processes > ½ as long as the stipule; [sandy loam, commonly on dolomite ledges in our range, e. WV, w. VA and c. OH to FL, AR and e. TX] | |
5 Stems ascending to erect at chasmogamous flowering time through fruiting, deciduous and not rooting at nodes (plants thus solitary). | |
7 Corolla cream-white, blue or purple, spurred petal with few fine inconspicuous nectar-guide lines; spur moderately short to elongate, 3-7 mm; cauline leaves longer than broad to broader than long but not deltate; stipules weakly to strongly lacerate or fimbriate; [native species, collectively widespread in our region]. | |