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Key to Sapindaceae

Sapindaceae

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1 Leaves opposite; leaves either palmately compound, or simple (and then palmately lobed and/or toothed), or pinnately compound.
  2 Leaves either simple (and palmately lobed and/or toothed) or pinnately compound; flowers radially symmetrical; fruit a schizocarp of 2 samaroid mericarps; [subfamily Hippocastanoideae, tribe Acereae]
  2 Leaves palmately compound; flowers bilaterally symmetrical; fruit a capsule, usually with single large “nut-like” seed; [subfamily Hippocastaoideae, tribe Hippocastaneae]
1 Leaves alternate; leaves compound (if unifoliolate and thus appearing simple [Dodonaea], then unlobed and with entire margins).
    3 Leaves unifoliolate, appearing simple; [subfamily Dodonaeoideae, tribe Dodonaeae]
    3 Leaves compound.
      4 Herbaceous vines or lianas; leaves 3-foliolate or otherwise compound (biternately or pinnately compound); [subfamily Sapindoideae, tribe Paullinieae]
        5 Leaves 3-foliolate
        5 Leaves pinnately to biternately compound.
          6 Fruit a schizocarp with 3 winged mericarps; seeds lacking a pseudohilum
          6 Fruit an inflated, papery capsule; seeds with a white or pale tan heart-shaped or kidney-shaped mark (pseudohilum)
      4 Tree or shrub; leaves 3-foliolate or pinnately or bipinnately compound.
             7 Leaves palmately 3-foliolate; [subfamily Dodonaeoideae, tribe Doratoxyleae]
                 9 Petals clawed; fruit appearing clustered in 2 or 3's, 1 (-2)-coccate, with (1-) 2 rudimentary cocci, tardily schizocarpic, separating into indehiscent globose mericarps, with fleshy pericarp containing much saponin; seeds globose, lacking an aril
                 9 Petals not clawed; fruit appearing singular, ellipsoid or nearly globose, usually with a single locule; seeds arillate or sarcotestal.
                   10 Fruit ripening dark purple or black
                   10 Fruit ripening green, brown or orange colored.
                     11 Leaves with (4) 8-10 (-18) leaflets; fruits light brown; seeds with a thin, translucent-white, fleshy aril, easily removable to show a shiny dark brown testa
                     11 Leaves with (2-) 4 leaflets, the rachis often winged; fruits green; seeds with a fleshy testa; petals usually with 2 marginal projections or appendages on or above the base, or lacking appendages
               8 Fruits dehiscent, a capsule with papery, membranaceous, coriaceous, or woody valves.
                       12 Leaves mostly odd-pinnate (with a definite terminal leaflet, the lower leaflets usually neatly opposite or subopposite along the rachis); [subfamily Sapindoideae, tribe Koelreuterieae]
                          13 Petals yellow; capsules papery or crustaceous, inflated (the capsule wall , with incomplete septae; seeds < 7 mm in diameter; [non-native, collectively widespread in our region]
                          13 Petals pink; capsules coriaceous, the capsule wall closely invested around the seeds, with complete septae; seeds 10-15 mm in diameter; [native, TX]
                       12 Leaves mostly even-pinnate (Cupania glabra can be oddly pinnate, but the leaflets are not neatly opposite along the rachis).
                              15 Locule 2- to several-seeded; [subfamily Dodonaeoideae, tribe Dodonaeae]

Key F3: Key to Plantae

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1 Leaves evenly 2-pinnately compound
1 Leaves oddly pinnate-pinnatifid, 2-pinnately compound, or more complexly compound than 2-pinnate.
  2 Leaves pinnate-pinnatifid, with 7-19 leaflets, each leaflet pinnatifid into narrowly lanceolate lobes; {upper leaflet surface dark green, lower surface silvery with gray sericeous pubescence}
  2 Leaves 2-pinnately compound, or even more complexly compound.
    3 Plant a shrub or tree, not climbing.
      4 Plant armed with prickles on the stem, and sometimes also on the axes and main veins of the leaves
        5 Plant a shrub, < 2.5 m tall.
          6 Foliage green; leaflets ovate, acute at the tip; flowers 3-merous, the tepals white or cream; fruit a red berry
          6 Foliage blue-green; leaflets obovate, rounded or notched at the tip; flowers 4-5-merous, the sepals green, the petals yellow; fruit a capsule
        5 Plant a tree, > 3 m tall when flowering and fruiting.
               8 Fruit a globose drupe, tan at maturity, 10-15 mm in diameter; inflorescence an axillary panicle; corolla lavender

Key F5: Key to Plantae

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1 Leaves very large, > 10 dm long
1 Leaves small to large, < 10 dm long.
  2 Stems armed with prickles or stipular or nodal spines; leaves often also with prickles.
    3 Leaves with conspicuous leafy stipules, often adnate to the petiole; plant a liana or small to medium shrub; leaves serrate, often sharply and prominently so; leaves not strongly aromatic when fresh, lacking pellucid punctate glands on the surface
    3 Leaves lacking leafy stipules; plant a tree or tall shrub; leaves entire or obscurely crenate or serrate; plant a tree or tall shrub; leaves either strongly aromatic when fresh, with conspicuous pellucid punctate glands or not aromatic and not pellucid-punctate.
      4 Leaves not aromatic when fresh, lacking pellucid punctate glands; leaves never with prickles on the rachis; leaflet apices rounded
      4 Leaves strongly aromatic when fresh, with conspicuous pellucid punctate glands; leaves often with prickles on the rachis; leaflet apices usually acuminate
  2 Stems unarmed (leaflets with spinose margins in some species, or the stem with dense hispid hairs, but these not particularly sharp to the touch).
          6 Plant an upright shrub or tree, not climbing.
             7 Plant a medium or tall tree.
               8 Leaves with stipules; flowers bilaterally symmetrical, papilionaceous, white, cream, or pink; stamens 10; fruit a legume; [collectively widespread in our area]
               8 Leaves without stipules; flowers radially symmetrical, whitish; stamens 5 or 10; fruit a single-seeded drupe; [FL peninsula]
             7 Plant a shrub or small tree to 7 (-10) m tall.
                 9 Leaf > 8 cm long, with 5-many leaflets.
                   10 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical, papilionaceous (reduced in Amorpha to a single petal); stamens 10; fruit a legume; leaves with stipules (stipulate).
                   10 Flowers radially symmetrical, stamens 4-5 (to 10+ in Simarouba); fruit either a drupe (Anacardiaceae, Simaroubaceae), or a 1-3-seeded berry or a samara (Picramniaceae); leaves without stipules (exstipulate).
                       12 Plants with pellucid (translucent) gland dots (usually variously present across vegetative and flowering parts)
                          13 Carpels remaining united, forming a compound fruit (the fruits various)
        5 Leaflets serrate or crenate (sometimes minutely so, look closely).
                            14 Leaflets crenate or crenulate, the teeth rounded and coarse (Cupania) or often inconspicuous or minute.
                              15 Fruit a fleshy berry, red to dark orange at maturity; leaf surfaces often (but not always) with punctate glands; flowers white, solitary or in small fascicles; [uncommon non-native, s. FL]
                              15 Fruit a capsule, drupe, or shizocarp of mericarps, variously colored at maturity; leaf surfaces not glandular-punctate; flowers variously colored, the inflorescence paniculate or thyrsiform; [collectively widespread natives and non-natives, including s. FL].
                                16 Fruit a dehiscent capsule; mid to lower leaflets usually conspicuously alternate along the rachis, the leaflet crenations often coarse; [s. FL only in our area]
                                16 Fruit a drupe or schizocarp of 2-5 samaroid mericarps (these evidently winged); mid to lower leaflets usually opposite or subopposite along the rachis, the crenations often inconspicuous; [collectively widespread].
                                  17 Leaflets with obscure crenations, not as below nor bearing glands; leaf rachis narrowly to conspicuously winged, especially towards the tip; fruit a drupe; plant a shrub or small tree
                                  17 Leaflets (especially the basal and on the basalscopic side) with 1-5 large rounded teeth, each bearing a prominent dark green gland; leaf rachis not winged; fruit a schizocarp, with 2-5 samaroid mericarps; plant a medium to large tree
                                         20 Plant a tree, freely branched; rhizome inner bark not brightly colored; flowers unisexual, the male flowers in catkins, the female flowers solitary or few in a spike, the perianth greenish or tan and inconspicuous; fruit a nut covered by a dehiscent or indehiscent involucre
                                         20 Plant a short shrub, < 1 m tall, little branched; rhizome inner bark of fresh plants bright yellow; flowers bisexual, petals absent, the 5 petaloid sepals maroon; inflorescence a drooping panicle from the base of the new year’s growth; fruit an aggregate of follicles
                                             22 Leaves lacking stipules; flowers cream or yellow; fruit either a drupe or an inflated membranaceous capsule.