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Key to Linderniaceae

Linderniaceae

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1 Calyx conspicuously 5-winged (each calyx segment strongly keel-winged)
1 Calyx not winged.
  2 Flowers < 2 mm long.
    3 Leaves elliptic, cuneate at the base; calyx lobes uneven, 3 of the sinuses extending about halfway to the base of the calyx, the lowermost sinus extending to the base
    3 Leaves orbicular, rounded at the base; calyx lobes even, all of the sinuses reaching nearly to the base of the calyx
  2 Flowers > 4 mm long.
      4 Fertile stamens 4; calyx lobes connate at anthesis for > ½ their length, later separating
      4 Fertile stamens 2 (with 2 staminodia without anthers, or with rudimentary anthers); calyx lobes separate, or connate at base for < ¼ the length of the calyx.
        5 Capsule lanceoloid, > 8× as long as its diameter; calyx lobes connate at the base ca. ¼ the length of the calyx
        5 Capsule ovoid to ellipsoid, < 5× as long as its diameter; calyx lobes connate at the base ca. 1/8 the length of the calyx

Key N2: herbaceous dicots with mainly basal, simple leaves

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1 Inflorescence an involucrate head subtended by phyllaries, the heads solitary or many and variously arrayed in secondary inflorescences, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamens 5, the fruit a cypsela
1 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above (sometimes the flowers in a head subtended by bracts, e.g. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or petals separate, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.).
  2 Basal leaves 2-lobed, pinnately lobed, or palmately lobed (not considering cordate, hastate, or auriculate leaf bases as “lobed”).
    3 Basal leaves 2-lobed, hinged between the lobes, each lobe with stiff, marginal, eyelash-like bristles; [Coastal Plain of NC and SC, rarely planted and weakly naturalized elsewhere]
    3 Basal leaves 3-many-lobed, palmately or pinnately; [collectively widespread].
      4 Leaf lobing pinnate.
        5 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate
        5 Gynoecium of a single pistil (with 2, rarely more, carpels); fruit simple.
          6 Stamens many; sepals 2, petals 4; fresh plants with yellow, orange, or white milky juice
          6 Stamens 4, 5, or 6; sepals 4 or 5; petals 4 or 5.
               8 Corolla 2-lipped, bilaterally symmetrical or asymmetrical; stamens 2 or 4.
                 9 Corolla lobes not twisted, the flower bilaterally symmetrical; stamens 2
                 9 Corolla lobes twisted so as to make the flower asymmetrical; stamens 4
      4 Leaf lobing palmate.
                              15 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate.
                                    18 Leaves 2, the single flower terminal and associated with the upper leaf; fruit an aggregate of berries
                                    18 Leaves normally > 2, flowers not as above; fruit an aggregate of achenes, utricles, or follicles
  2 Basal leaves not lobed, at most serrate or crenate (and sometimes also cordate, hastate, auriculate, or peltate at the base).
                                                 24 Inflorescence either a terminal spike, or a 1-7-flowered terminal cyme, or of a solitary axillary or terminal flower; fruit various; perianth biseriate (of differentiated sepals and petals (except uniseriate, of 3 fused sepals in ARISTOLOCHIACEAE).
                                                      26 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical; inflorescence a terminal spike (with > 20 flowers); petals 4, usually scarious, transparent; sepals 4, green; stamens 4
                                                      26 Flowers radially symmetrical; inflorescence either of a solitary flower or of a 1-7-flowered terminal cyme; petals 5, 8-12, or 0; sepals 5 (green), 3 (brown), or 5-9 (yellow); stamens 5, 12, or many.
                                                        27 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate of achenes or follicles; flowers bright yellow, either of 5-9 distinct petaloid sepals, or of 8-12 distinct petals subtended by 3-4 green distinct sepals
                                                        27 Gynoecium either of a single pistil with 6 carpels or of a single pistil with 4 carpels or of 2 nearly separate carpels; fruit a simple capsule (or deeply 2-lobed); flowers white, brown, or greenish, either of 5 fused or distinct white petals and 5 fused or distinct green sepals, or of 3 fused brown or greenish petaloid sepals.
                                                              30 Fruit a deeply 2-lobed capsule; sepals longer or ca. as long as petals; petals not undulate, fused at their bases or distal ½, the anthers maroon or brown-colored; [common, widespread in our area]
                                                                 31 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate; perianth of 5 green sepals and 5 colored petals (or of 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepals in Begonia).
                                                                   32 Flowers typically with 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepals; leaf bases conspicuously oblique (sometimes variegated); fruit unequally or subequally 3-winged capsules; [ornamental waifs or uncommon non-natives]
                                                                   32 Flowers with 5 green sepals and 5 colored petals (not merged into tepals); leaf bases oblique or not; fruit various but not 3-winged capsules; [natives and non-natives].
                                                                              37 Inflorescence a terminal raceme; perianth of 4 green sepals and 4 white petals; fruit a silique/silicle; fresh foliage in spring and summer with a strong garlic odor; larger leaves < 10 cm in diameter
                                                                                    40 Leaves tubular, with a sutured ventral flange, erect or reclining, adapted as a pitfall for insects (flat, phyllodial leaves sometimes present as well, common in the winter in some species, such as S. oreophila)
                                                                                      41 Stem leaves opposite; perianth 5-merous, at least the corolla bilaterally symmetrical (barely so in VALERIANACEAE), or the parts curved so as to be asymmetrical (Pedicularis in OROBANCHACEAE); stamens 2, 3, or 4.
                                                                                           43 Corolla distinctly 2-lipped (with prominently large upper and lower corolla lobes) or hooded (the upper lip hood-like), distinctly bilaterally symmetrical, or the lobes twisted so as to make the corolla asymmetrical.

Key S1: herbaceous dicots with opposite, simple, and unlobed leaves on the stem

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1 Inflorescence an involucrate head subtended by phyllaries, the heads solitary or many and variously arrayed in secondary inflorescences, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamens 5, the fruit a cypsela
1 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above (sometimes the flowers in a head, e.g. Pycnanthemum in LAMIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.; Carpobrotus is superficially asteroid, but heads are composed of numerous petaloid staminodia, and receptacles lack cypselae;).
  2 Leaves scale-like, stems fleshy; flowers embedded in the fleshy stem, no perianth present; [saline environments (coastal or rarely inland)].
  2 Leaves small to large; stems not fleshy (although sometimes plants generally succulent as in Sesuvium); flowers sessile or on pedicels; [collectively of many habitats, saline and not].
      4 Perianth of a single whorl (petals absent) (note that in Mirabilis in NYCTAGINACEAE the petaloid calyx is subtended by a 5-lobed fused set of involucral bracts).
        5 Leaves herbaceous, suborbicular, about as long as wide or wider than long; calyx 3- or 4-merous; stamens 4, 8, or 12.
          6 Plant ascending, with a single node (2 leaves); leaves > 6 cm long and wide; calyx 3-merous, brown to yellowish; stamens 12
          6 Plant creeping, with many nodes; leaves 3-15 mm long and wide; calyx 4-merous, yellow to greenish; stamens 4 or 8
        5 Leaves fleshy, linear, lanceolate, to broadly ovate, at least slightly longer than broad; calyx 5-merous; stamens 3, 5, or 10.
             7 Flowers axillary, sessile or nearly so, solitary or a few; petaloid sepals widely spreading, separate, usually with a subapical abaxial appendage; leaves linear to oblanceolate; stamens 5 or 30-50
             7 Flowers in terminal cymose panicles; petaloid sepals connate into a narrow tube (reminiscent of the corolla of Ipomoea), lacking subapical abaxial appendages; leaves lanceolate, elliptic, ovate, or broadly ovate; stamens 3 or 5
      4 Perianth in 2 whorls (sepals and petals both present).
               8 Plants succulent, mat-forming subshrubs; flowering heads showy and consisting of numerous petaloid staminodia; [waif, FL]
               8 Plants not as above.
                   10 Leaves distinctly 3-veined from the base, the 3 veins converging again at the leaf apex
                 9 Petals connate into a tube (at least basally); inflorescence often a head or dense terminal cyme (also axillary, or solitary on long peduncles).
                       12 Upright herb; flowers in axils or terminal corymbs
                     11 Petals 4 (or 6 or 8 in Richardia in RUBIACEAE); stamens 4, 6, or 8.
                            14 Inflorescence a head or more diffuse (see below), sometimes subtended by green bracts.
                              15 Leaves serrate; corolla bilaterally symmetrical (especially the flowers near the outer edge of the head); inflorescence a head
                              15 Leaves entire; corolla radially symmetrical; inflorescence a head or more diffuse (see below).
                                16 Petals acute; flowers in terminal panicles, cymes, or panicles, or axillary; plant habit various, not simultaneously with all the characters below
                                16 Petals broadly rounded; flowers axillary, solitary; plant a diffusely branched herb with linear leaves
                                  17 Perianth of a single whorl (petals absent) or missing entirely (petals and sepals both absent).
                                    18 Inflorescence a cyathium, consisting of a single pistillate flower (reduced to a single 3-carpellate pistil) and 2 or more staminate flowers (each reduced to 1 stamen), borne in a cup-like involucre, the involucre bearing pointed or rounded glands, these sometimes brightly colored and petaloid, mimicking an individual flower (the cyathia then secondarily arranged in terminal cymes, or solitary and axillary, etc.); fresh plants with milky juice; fruit a 3-lobed, 3-locular capsule
                                    18 Inflorescence not a cyathium (and staminate or bisexual flowers with > 1 stamen, except Callitriche in PLANTAGINACEAE); fresh plants lacking milky juice; fruit various, not as above.
                                               23 Leaves entire, or with a few very obscure crenations (Iresine) or basally disposed rounded lobe-like teeth (Atriplex); plants without stinging hairs.
                                                    25 Style 1; leaves generally either longer than 30 mm, or wider than 8 mm (if linear and smaller than those dimensions, then fleshy).
                                                                         35 Corolla radially symmetrical (or so slightly bilaterally symmetrical as to be mistakable as radially symmetrical); stamens as many as the corolla lobes (or 1 less in Ruellia in ACANTHACEAE, Buchnera in OROBANCHACEAE, Trichostema in LAMIACEAE, and Verbena in VERBENACEAE); carpels 2 or 3.
                                                                                    40 Stamens either 4, 1 fewer than the 5 corolla lobes, or 2 (with 2 staminodes); corolla usually slightly bilaterally symmetrical (the flower as a whole made bilaterally symmetrical by the 2 or 4 stamens).
                                                                         35 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical (or the corolla 2-lipped but the corolla lobes twisted so as to make the flower asymmetrical); fertile stamens fewer than the corolla lobes (except Plantago in PLANTAGINACEAE, which is equal, with 4 each; a few genera have a 5th, sterile, stamen which is obviously different in form than the 4 fertile stamens) (note that many corollas are bilabiate and the number of corolla lobes, 4 or 5, may be difficult to interpret); carpels 2.
                                                                                                 46 Inflorescence a thyrse, verticillaster, or terminal cyme, the flowers borne in cymose lateral branches; corolla strongly bilaterally symmetrical (rarely nearly radially symmetrical); stems square in ×-section (or sometimes rounded, especially on older growth); fresh plants often (but not always) aromatic
                                                                                                 46 Inflorescence of spikes, racemes, or heads, the flowers or fruits single at nodes; corolla often nearly radially symmetrical; stems rounded in X-section (rarely square); fresh plants usually not aromatic
                                                                                                                       56 Inflorescence of 1 or more terminal (and sometimes upper axillary) spikes or racemes; corolla 10-50 mm long (6-8 mm long in Phryma in PHRYMACEAE), white, pink, blue, purple, or yellow; fruit either a loculicidal capsule (OROBANCHACEAE) or a single seeded achene (Phryma in PHRYMACEAE).
                                                                                                                             59 Corolla distinctly bilabiate