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Key to Portulaca
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40271
5 Petals not bilobed; stamens usually < 30; [collectively widespread and of various habitats]. | |
6 Petals dark pink to purple; seeds 0.4- 0.6 mm wide, round; leaves narrowly elliptic, 3-5× as long as wide | |
6 Petals medium to pale pink; seeds 0.7-0.9 mm wide, elongate; leaves linear, ca. 8× as long as wide | |
8 Leaves flat; capsule encircled by an expanded, membranaceous wing | |
9 Petals variable in color; [exotic, in disturbed situations or naturalized on granite flatrocks in SC and GA] | |
11 Stem nodes and inflorescences with conspicuous trichomes; flowers < 8 mm in diameter; [TX, waif elsewhere] | |
12 Capsule not encircled by an expanded membranaceous wing; [collectively widespread in our area, and of various habitats]. | |
13 Leaves opposite; petals 4 (-5); tap-rooted perennial; [narrowly restricted to limestone outcrops in pine rocklands in the Florida Keys, and southeastwards in the Bahamas] | |
13 Leaves alternate to subopposite; petals 5; fibrous-rooted annuals; [widely distributed in various habitats]. | |
14 Epidermal cells of the seed coat (stellulae) with broad lobes, the lobes almost never longer than broad; seeds bluish (covered by wax); seeds retained in the nipple-like projection of the operculum avg. 4; [not readily identifiable by characters other than those of mature capsules and seeds] | |
14 Epidermal cells of the seed coat (stellulae), with narrow lobes, the lobes mostly distinctly longer than broad (and sometimes developing prominent papillae at their ends); seeds not bluish (not covered by wax); seeds retained in the nipple-like projection of the operculum avg. 1-3; [not readily identifiable by characters other than those of mature capsules and seeds] | |
15 Capsule encircled by an expanded membranaceous wing. | |
16 [Native in our area, in thin soil on granitic and sandstone outcrops in SC and GA] | |
17 Petals variable in color; [exotic, in disturbed situations or naturalized on granite flatrocks in SC and GA] | |
15 Capsule not encircled by an expanded membranaceous wing. | |
21 Epidermal cells of the seed coat (stellulae) with broad lobes, the lobes almost never longer than broad; seeds bluish (covered by wax); seeds retained in the nipple-like projection of the operculum avg. 4 | |
23 Seeds > 0.7 mm in diameter; epidermal cells of the seed coat (stellulae) distinctly stellate and also tuberculate | |
25 Longest leaves mostly < 17 mm long; capsules mostly < 3.5 mm in diameter; [native, on granitic or diabase flatrocks] | |