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Key to Acanthaceae

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1 Plant a tree, with opposite leathery leaves; [of FL, s. MS, s. LA southward]
1 Plant an herb, with various leaf arrangements.
..2 Leaves in a basal rosette (sometimes with smaller leaves on a scape).
....3 Leaves glabrate, to 22 cm long and 8 cm wide; corolla 0.8-1.3 cm long; capsule 8-10 mm long; stamens 2; [of moist to wet swamps]; [subfamily Nelsonioideae]
....3 Leaves pubescent, to 10 cm long and 3 cm wide; corolla 1.8-4 cm long; capsule 9-18 mm long; stamens 4; [of dry upland pinelands].
......4 Leaves 2-10 cm long, 1-3 cm wide; corolla 3-4 cm long; calyx lobes 15-30 mm long; capsule 12-18 mm long
......4 Leaves 1.5-2.5 cm long, 0.7-0.8 cm wide; corolla ca. 2 cm long; calyx lobes 6-9 mm long; capsule ca. 10 mm long
..2 Leaves cauline.
........5 Fertile stamens 2; corolla distinctly 2-lipped (except salverform in Pseuderanthemum and with 4 nearly equal lobes in Yeatesia).
..........6 Corolla salverform, 5-lobed (but still zygomorphic)
..........6 Corolla distinctly 2-lipped or 4-lobed.
............ 7 Leaves speckled or mottled with pink or white
............ 7 Leaves not speckled with pink or white.
............ ..8 Bracts and bractlets inconspicuous, 2-5 mm long, linear or triangular; stem subterete or obscurely 4-angled
............ ..8 Bracts and/or bractlets subtending the flowers conspicuous, 5-15 mm long, obovate; stem terete or 6-angled.
............ ....9 Stem six-angled in cross-section; corolla conspicuously 2-lipped
............ ....9 Stem terete in cross-section; corolla 4-lobed, the lobes nearly equal
........5 Fertile stamens 4; corolla not distinctly 2-lipped, the corolla lobes of nearly equal size (except distinctly 2-lipped in Hygrophila).
............ ......10 Corolla distinctly 2-lipped
............ ......10 Corolla not distinctly 2-lipped, the corolla lobes of nearly equal size.
............ ........11 Plant an herbaceous vine; leaves cordate-hastate at the base; flowers yellow to orange, usually with a dark purple “eye”
............ ........11 Plant an herb; leaves cuneate to rounded at the base; flowers white to various shades of blue or pink.
............ ..........12 Flowers axillary, solitary.
............ ............ 13 Calyx lobes linear-aristate; anther sacs awned or pointed at the base
............ ............ 13 Calyx lobes lanceolate or linear; anther sacs blunt
............ ..........12 Flowers in elongate terminal racemes
............ ............ ..14 Bracts in the inflorescence small, inconspicuous
............ ............ ..14 Bracts in the inflorescence large, conspicuous

Key J5: trees with opposite simple leaves with entire margins

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1 Leaves deciduous (medium to pale green, thin in texture); leaves strictly opposite.
..2 Leaves 10-70 cm wide, cordate or subcordate at the base; flowers 5-merous, bilaterally symmetrical, large (20-70 mm long), the petals connate into a tube; fruit a capsule.
....3 Flowers white to yellow; capsules linear, >10× as long as wide; leaf undersurface with curly simple hairs; nectar glands present in the main vein axils on the undersurface of the leaf (visible from the underside or the upperside in fresh leaves and herbarium specimens as a triangle 1-4 mm on a side)
....3 Flowers lavender; capsules ellipsoid, < 2× as long as wide; leaf undersurface with branched (dendritic or stellate) hairs; nectar glands absent
..2 Leaves 1-12 cm wide, cuneate to rounded at the base; flowers 4-6-merous, radially symmetrical, small to medium (< 25 mm long), the petals either connate into a tube or separate and clawed; fruit a drupe or capsule.
......4 Leaves with prominently parallel-arcing secondary veins; corolla 4-merous, < 8 mm long, white to cream; inflorescence a many-flowered corymb or head; flowers white to cream; fruit a drupe
......4 Leaves with complexly branching secondary and tertiary veins; corolla 5-6-merous, 12-25 mm long, either greenish-yellow and mottled with purple, or white, pink, or purple; inflorescence a few-flowered cyme or many-flowered cymose panicle; fruit a capsule.
........5 Leaves 4-20 cm long, 2.5-12 cm wide; petals connate into a 15-25 mm long tube, either greenish-yellow and mottled with purple; some calyx lobes expanding to 7 cm long and 5 cm wide, petaloid (pink to yellowish); capsule 2-valved; [native, in saturated, boggy seepages and streamheads, se. SC to FL]
........5 Leaves 2.5-7 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide; petals separate, clawed, 12-20 mm long (including the 6-9 mm long claw), white, pink, or purple; calyx remaining small and sepaloid (3.5-5 mm long); capsule 4-6-valved; [introduced, persistent from planting in upland to moist situations]
1 Leaves evergreen (dark green or gray-green, thick in texture); leaves opposite or subopposite (offset by < 2mm from the opposing leaf).
..........6 Mangroves, with one of various adaptations to growing in tidal or near-tidal, saline situations: prominent salt-excreting glands on the petiole (Laguncularia in COMBRETACEAE), or prop roots (Rhizophora in RHIZOPHORACEAE), or abundant pneumatophores (Avicennia in ACANTHACEAE); [FL and less commonly subtropical shores of other, especially Gulf Coast, southeastern states].
............ 7 Leaves broadly elliptic, light green on both surfaces, rounded to broadly cuneate at the base, rounded and often retuse at the tip; petiole with 2 prominent salt-excreting glands; plants with neither prop-roots from the trunk and branches, nor pneumatophores from the roots
............ 7 Leaves narrowly elliptic, dark green above, cuneate at the base, acute to obtuse at the tip; petiole without salt glands; plants with either prop-roots from the trunk and branches, or pneumatophores from the roots.
............ ..8 Plants with numerous pneumatophores ascending from the roots and terminating in a blunt tip; leaves gray on the undersurface
............ ..8 Plants with prominent prop-roots descending to the ground from the trunk and branches; leaves light green on the undersurface
..........6 Non-mangroves; [collectively widespread].
............ ....9 Secondary leaf veins relatively few, further branching and reticulating into the tertiary vein structure; [collectively widespread].
............ ......10 Leaves strictly opposite, blue- or gray-green on both surfaces, suborbicular (about as wide as long), strongly aromatic when fresh
............ ......10 Leaves opposite or subopposite (offset by < 2mm from the opposing leaf); dark green above, pale green below; oblancolate, elliptic, or ovate (distinctly longer than wide), not aromatic when fresh
............ ........11 Twigs with spines; leaf venation with 3 primary veins from near the blade base; fruit a spherical berry, 5-12 cm long
............ ........11 Twigs lacking spines; leaf venation pinnate; fruit an elliptical drupe, < 2.5 cm long
............ ....9 Secondary leaf veins very many, closely parallel to one another and extending unbranched to the leaf margin.
............ ..........12 Leaves elliptic, widest near the midpoint of the blade, ca. 2× as long as wide; flowers in axillary thyrses; fruit a 1-seeded drupe, 2-4 cm long
............ ..........12 Leaves spatulate, widest towards the broadly rounded tip, ca. 1.2-1.6× as long as wide; flowers terminal on the branches, 1-3; fruit a leathery capsule, (4-) 6-9 (-12)-valved, 5-8 cm long
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