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Key to Linaria

Plantaginaceae

Linaria

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1 Styles bifid, with 2 distinct stigmatic surfaces; corolla primarily reddish-purple or magenta (the palate red, yellow, or whitish); capsule 3-7 mm long; plants annuals, with no stolons or rhizomes; seeds wingless; [section Versicolores].
  2 Raceme rachis glabrous or sparsely glandular-hairy with hairs 0.1-0.4 mm long; capsules 4.5-7 mm long
  2 Raceme rachis glandular-hairy with hairs 0.1-0.7 mm long; capsules 3-6 mm long
1 Styles simple, with a single stigmatic surface; corolla blue, pale bluish-violet, bright yellow, light yellow, or white; capsule 2-12 mm long; plants annuals, biennials, or perennials; seeds winged or wingless.
    3 Corollas yellow; plants perennials; [exotics].
      4 Seeds disciform, with an obvious encircling wing; capsule 5-12 mm long; [common and strongly naturalized in the northern part of our region]; [section Linaria].
        5 Fertile stems 5-24 cm tall; corollas 15-25 mm long; capsules globular
        5 Fertile stems (25-) 35-90 (-120) cm tall; corollas 27-33 mm long; capsules oblong-globular to ovoid
      4 Seeds trigonous or tetrahedral, lacking wings; capsule 4-7 mm long; [rare waifs]; [section Speciosae].
          6 Corollas 27-38 (-42) mm long; spurs 11-24 mm long
          6 Corollas 16-20 (-23) mm long; spurs 7-9 (-10) mm long
    3 Corollas blue, violet, pale bluish-white, or white; plants annuals, biennials, or perennials; [natives (often weedy) and exotics].
             7 Plants perennials; upper corolla lobes prominently striped longitudinally; stem leaves spreading; [section Speciosae]
             7 Plants annuals or biennials; upper corolla lobes unmarked or faintly so; [section Lectoplectron].
               8 Infructescence axis zigzag; fruiting pedicels densely glandular pubescent, 5-13 mm long, 2× or more as long as the calyx; corolla spur almost obsolete, reduced to a bulge 0.1-0.4 mm long
               8 Infructescence axis straight or nearly so; fruiting pedicels glabrous or with a few scattered glandular hairs, 2-6 (-9) mm long, < 1× as long as the calyx; corolla spur 2-11 mm long.
                 9 Corolla 8-11 (-14) mm long (measured from the tip of the spur to the tip of the middle lobe of the lower lip), the lower lip 2-4.5 (-6) mm long; seeds longitudinally ridged, the intervening faces smooth or with sparse low tubercles
                 9 Corolla (11-) 14-22 mm long (measured from the tip of the spur to the tip of the middle lobe of the lower lip), the lower lip 5-11 mm long; seeds densely tuberculate, not longitudinally ridged