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1 Lianas, climbing by adventitious roots, twining, or scrambling. |
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2 Plants climbing by twining or scrambling; sepals and petals 5; ovaries 3- carpellate (capsules 3- locular). |
3 Leaves opposite, evergreen; seeds 5-6 per locule; seeds winged, tan or brown; [subfamily Hippocrateoideae] |
3 Leaves alternate, deciduous; seeds 2 per locule; seeds not winged, orange or red because of the enclosing aril; [subfamily Celastroideae] |
1 Shrubs or trees, more or less erect and without climbing adaptations. |
4 Leaves alternate; leaf margins entire. |
5 Fruit a capsule; sepals, petals, and stamens 5; [subfamily Maytenoideae] |
5 Fruit a drupe; sepals, petals, and stamens 4; [subfamily Celastroideae] |
4 Leaves opposite; leaf margins entire, serrate, crenate, or spinose. |
6 Leaves deciduous (though in some species dark green); seed arils yellow, orange, or red; seeds (2-) 4-10 per fruit; [subfamily Celastroideae] |
6 Leaves evergreen; seed arils absent ( Crossopetalum, Gyminda) or white to yellow ( Paxistima); seeds (1-) 2 per fruit. |
7 Leaves 2-4 mm wide; plant 0.1-0.4 dm tall; fruit a capsule, 3-4 mm long; seeds black, ellipsoid, with a yellow or white aril; [of the Appalachians, native to calcareous rock outcrops, rarely naturalized elsewhere]; [subfamily Celastroideae] |
7 Leaves 5-30 mm wide; plant 0.1-8 m tall; fruit a drupe, 3-8 mm long; seeds ovoid or obovoid, lacking an aril; [of the Coastal Plain, and essentially limited to peninsular FL]. |
8 Branchlets terete; fruit a red drupe; [subfamily Crossopetaloideae] |
8 Branchlets 4-angled; fruit either a bluish black drupe or a capsule; [subfamily Celastroideae] |
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2 Plant a shrub, erect, not requiring support. |
3 Leaves with spiny margins |
3 Leaves with crenate or serrate margins. |
4 Leaves slightly to strongly fleshy; inflorescence a head; [ maritime situations] |
4 Leaves not fleshy; inflorescence either a head or otherwise; [collectively widespread]. |
5 Leaves > 8 cm long, typically spotted with yellow, coarsely toothed; fruit a red drupe; [commonly cultivated, rarely seeding down nearby] |
5 Leaves < 8 cm long, not yellow-spotted, serrulate; fruit a capsule or purplish drupe; [plants native or cultivated]. |
6 Inflorescence a head; [s. FL] |
6 Inflorescence otherwise; [more widespread]. |
7 Corolla tubular, campanulate, bilaterally symmetrical; fruit a 1-seeded achene (rarely produced) |
7 Corolla radially symmetrical, with 4-5 distinct petals; fruit a 2-10-seeded capsule or drupe. |
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8 Fruit a (2-) 3- locular, purplish-black drupe, with (2-) 3 single-seeded stones |
2 Plant a subshrub, creeping shrub, or liana. |
9 Leaves spinose- serrate; [exotics, rarely naturalized] |
9 Leaves serrate (not spinose), serrulate, or crenate; [exotics and natives, collectively widespread]. |
10 Leaves slightly to strongly fleshy; inflorescence a head; [ maritime situations] |
10 Leaves not fleshy; inflorescence otherwise; [collectively widespread]. |
11 Leaves on vigorous shoots with a few coarse rounded teeth towards the base (most leaves entire) |
11 Leaves serrulate to serrate, the teeth uniformly around the margin or concentrated towards the tip; fruit dry, either indehiscent and 1-seeded or capsular and with several seeds. |
12 Flowers 5 -merous; petals fused; fruit indehiscent, 1-seeded; [ montane, from e. TN, WV, and w. MD northwards in our area] |
12 Flowers 4- or 5 -merous; petals separate; fruit capsular, dehiscent, several-seeded; [collectively widespread in our area] |
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13 Leaves slightly to strongly fleshy; inflorescence a head, subtended by an involucre of phyllaries; [ maritime situations] |
13 Leaves not fleshy; inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above (sometimes the flowers in a head subtended by bracts, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or petals separate, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.); [collectively widespread]. |
14 Lianas climbing by twining or by adventitious roots. |
15 Stems with retrorse prickles; foliage scabrous |
15 Stems not prickly; foliage smooth to variously hairy, but not scabrous. |
16 Leaves on vigorous shoots with a few coarse rounded teeth towards the base (most leaves entire), the larger leaves < 3 cm wide; lianas climbing by twining; fruit a fleshy berry; flowers 5 -merous, with a fused, tubular corolla |
16 Leaves serrate, the teeth towards the leaf apex, the larger leaves > 4 cm wide; lianas climbing by adventitious roots; fruit a capsule; flowers 7-10 -merous, with separate petals |
14 Upright shrubs or trees, lacking any adaptations for climbing. |
17 Trees; leaves often a mix of alternate and opposite. |
18 Leaves harshly scabrous on the upper surface; fruit a multiple of achenes; leaf venation pinnate but irregular |
18 Leaves not scabrous; fruit a 2-4-seeded drupe; leaf venation neatly pinnate, the lateral veins nearly straight and parallel to one another |
17 Shrubs or trees; leaves strictly opposite (or often a mix of alternate and opposite in RHAMNACEAE). |
19 Trees; leaves palmately-veined, with 5 or more veins from the base; [rarely naturalizing] |
19 Shrubs; leaves either triple-veined from near the base or pinnate-veined; [collectively widespread and common] |
20 Leaves strongly triple-veined from at or near the base of the blade, the 2 lateral veins arching towards the tip and rejoining the midvein or nearly so (becoming diffuse before rejoining); petals 4, white; stamens 15-90 |
20 Leaves pinnate-veined; petals various, not both 4 and white (except sometimes in Hydrangea); stamens 1-15 (except 15-30 in Exochorda in ROSACEAE). |
21 Inflorescence head-like; flowers sympetalous and 4- lobed; fruit 2 seeded |
21 Inflorescence more diffuse, with internal axes and pedicels; flowers not both sympetalous and 4- lobed (except in Forsythia and Buddleja); fruit 1-seeded, 2-4-seeded, or 4-many-seeded. |
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23 Corolla absent; flowers inconspicuous and small, in axillary fascicles or catkins. |
24 Flowers in catkins; leaves usually a mix of opposite and alternate |
24 Flowers in axillary fascicles; leaves strictly opposite (subopposite) |
23 Corolla present; flowers larger, in terminal cymes, corymbs, racemes, panicles, or in axillary cymes or fascicles. |
25 Petals separate; stamens 8-10 (-60) (or 4-6 in RHAMNACEAE and Euonymus in CELASTRACEAE). |
26 Flowers 1-few, in axillary cymes; stamens 4-6; stems brown, tan, gray, or green. |
27 Leaf venation pinnate, but irregular and reticulated; stems green |
27 Leaf venation neatly pinnate, the lateral veins nearly straight and parallel to one another; stems brown, tan, or gray |
26 Flowers 1 and terminal, or many, in terminal panicles or corymbs; stamens 8-10 (-60); stems brown, tan or gray. |
28 Inflorescence a solitary, terminal flower; stamens 30-60 |
28 Inflorescence a terminal panicle or corymb; stamens 8-15 |
25 Petals fused, at least basally, and often strongly tubular; stamens 2, 4, or 5. |
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30 Petals white, fused basally only, the lobes spreading |
30 Petals pink, yellow, or reddish, fused for most of their length |
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31 Stamens 2; petals yellow; flowers radially symmetrical; inflorescence an axillary fascicle |
31 Stamens 4; petals white, pink, or lavender; flowers bilabiate; inflorescence a terminal thyrse or panicle or an axillary cyme. |
32 Petals 4; inflorescence a terminal thyrse |
32 Petals 5; inflorescence a terminal panicle or an axillary cyme. |
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34 Fruit a berry, drupe, or achene, indehiscent, fleshy at maturity (or dry in Kolkwitzia). |
35 Fruit a berry, with 20+ seeds |
35 Fruit a drupe or achene, with 1-4 seeds. |
36 Fruit an achene (1-seeded), dry at maturity |
36 Fruit a drupe (1-4-seeded), fleshy at maturity. |
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38 Foliage with stellate hairs; fruit a pink-purple 4-seeded drupe |
38 Foliage glabrous or with simple hairs; fruit a dark red, black, or blue 1-4-seeded drupe. |
39 Fruit a 1-seeded drupe; [NC southwards and westwards] |
39 Fruit a 2-4-seeded drupe; [widespread in our region] |
34 Fruit a capsule, dehiscent, dry at maturity. |
40 Inflorescence a catkin, the flowers small (< 5 mm in diameter) and tightly arranged on the inflorescence axis (> 5 per cm of the axis) |
40 Inflorescence various, but more diffuse, the flowers larger (> 5 mm in diameter, except for some flowers in Hydrangea in HYDRANGEACEAE) and loosely arranged (< 5 per cm of axis). |
41 Capsule prominently 5-angled (star-shaped in ×-section) |
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43 Capsule pink to red; fruits solitary or in axillary cymes |
43 Capsule brown; fruits in axillary fascicles |
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44 Inflorescence a flat-topped corymb or rounded compound cyme, as wide as or wider than long |
44 Inflorescence elongated, a raceme, panicle, or thyrse, much longer than wide. |
45 Capsule elongate (> 3× as long as wide), 8-25 mm long |
45 Capsule about as long as wide, 3-6 mm long. |
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