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1 Plant an herb, subshrub, or sprawling shrub, not clonal by underground rhizomes (except Gaultheria procumbens and Epigaea repens), rarely > 3 dm tall; plants mycotrophic or hemi-mycotrophic (except Epigaea, Gaultheria, and Arctostaphylos). | |
2 Plants without chlorophyll (fully mycotrophic); stems fleshy; leaves represented by bract-like scales, white or variously colored, but not green; pollen grains single; [subfamily Monotropoideae; tribe Monotropeae]. | |
3 Petals separate; fruit erect, a capsule; flower and fruit 1-several per stem. | |
4 Flowers few to many, racemose; stem pubescent, at least in the inflorescence; plant yellow, orange, or red when fresh, aging or drying dark brown | |
2 Plants with chlorophyll (hemi-mycotrophic or autotrophic); stems woody; leaves present and well-developed, green; pollen grains in tetrads (single in Orthilia). | |
6 Style and filaments straight; filaments straight, the anthers closely surrounding the style; inflorescence distinctly secund (1-sided) | |
7 Plant erect, the leaves clustered near the apex of the single stem. | |
8 Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, normally 2-4× as long as wide (sometimes proportionately less narrow in stunted individuals; fruit a capsule, borne 1-several on an erect scape above the leaves [subfamily Monotropoideae; tribe Pyroleae] | |
7 Plant creeping or sprawling, leaves scattered along the stems. | |
9 Flowers in axillary or terminal spikes or racemes; fruit a fleshy loculicidal capsule or red drupe. | |
1 Plant either a shrub or tree (> 3 dm tall), or a shrub 1-3 dm tall (rarely a woody needle-leaved subshrub 0.5-1 m and definitely and obviously clonal by underground rhizomes; plants not mycotrophic or hemi-mycotrophic. | |
11 Leaves ca. 1 mm wide, 3-12 mm long, appearing opposite, alternate, or whorled (the internodes very short, thus the leaves generally appearing whorled); petals absent; fruit a subglobose, 2-stoned drupe, 1-3 mm in diameter; branches often appearing in whorls of 3-7; [subfamily Ericoideae; tribe Empetreae] | |
15 Petals separate; fruit 2-7-locular; either a shrub to 1 m tall with ovate to oblong, evergreen leaves, 0.6-1.2 cm long, or a shrub to small tree 2-6 (-9) m tall with elliptic, deciduous leaves, 4-12 cm long, or a shrub 1-2.5 m tall, with elliptic to ovate, evergreen leaves 2-4 cm long; [subfamily Ericoideae; tribe Phyllodoceae]. {add Rhododendron groenlandicum} | |
16 Fruit 2-3 (5)-locular; shrub to 1 m tall; leaves, 0.4-1.2 cm long; petals 2-4 mm long | |
16 Fruit 4-7-locular; shrub to small tree 1-6 (-9) m tall; leaves 2-12 cm long; petals 12-30 mm long. | |
17 Fruit 7-locular; leaves evergreen 2-4 cm long; petals 20-30 mm long; shrub 1-2.5 m tall | |
18 Leaves alternate or whorled, > 20 mm long. | |
21 Leaves coriaceous, evergreen, shiny and dark green above. | |
22 Leaves sharply and distinctly serrate. | |
23 Pedicels slender, 7-10 mm long; filaments strongly curved just below the anthers; pith transversely diaphragmed; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Lyonieae] | |
25 Leaves with a prominent vein running parallel to (and about 1 mm in from) the margin; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Lyonieae] | |
25 Leaves without a prominent marginal vein. | |
27 Flower stalks with 2 opposite or subopposite triangular bractlets near the base of the pedicel; leaf lower surface punctate with stalked red glands | |
21 Leaves membranaceous or subcoriaceous, deciduous or evergreen, if subcoriaceous and evergreen, then not shiny and dark green above. | |
28 Capsules ovoid to globose or subglobose, about as long as broad, or broader than long, 2-7 mm long. | |
33 Leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 8× or more as long as wide. strongly revolute, strongly whitened beneath; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Andromedeae] | |
33 Leaves broader, not revolute or slightly so, not strongly whitened below. | |
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2 Leaves flat, > 3 cm long; leaves (2-) 3 per node; [Eudicots]. | |
3 Plant a subshrub, < 3 dm tall, with < 10 leaves per stem. | |
7 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) | |
9 Leaves lanceolate or oblong-elliptic (> 2.5× as long as wide), the secondary venation not prominent; inflorescences axillary or terminal; flowers pink or white. | |
10 Inflorescences terminal or axillary; flowers pink or white; leaves thick and leathery; [exotics of uplands or wetlands, persistent or weakly naturalized] | |
11 Fruit berry-like with 2-locular ovaries; flowers white-colored, smaller; inflorescence axillary or pseudo-terminal; leaves opposite to whorled | |
11 Fruit follicles; flowers variously colored, showy and salverform; inflorescence terminal; leaves alternate to whorled (pseudo-whorled) | |
12 Flowers in a spherical or hemispherical head; corollas white or greenish-yellow | |