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Key G2: woody plants with alternate, simple, palmately lobed leaves

Plantae

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      4 Tendril branched, leaf-opposed; leaves mostly 5-7-lobed, the margin also serrate or dentate
      4 Tendril simple (though paired in Smilax in SMILACACEAE), axillary; leaves 3-lobed, the margin entire, serrulate, or prickly.
        5 Leaves longer than wide, entire or prickly-margined; stems usually obviously armed with prickle; flowers 6-merous, greenish, in umbel borne in leaf axil; tendril stipular, 2 per leaf axil, adnate to the petiole basally
        5 Leaves wider than long, entire or serrulate; stems not armed; flowers 5-merous, blue-purple or yellow, solitary or in small fascicle in leaf axil; tendril 1 per leaf axil
1 Trees or shrubs.
             7 Leaves > 3 dm long and wide; tree monopodial, with a single, unbranched stem (rarely with a few branches).
               8 Leaf lobe > 15, not sublobed; venation of each lobe parallel; fruit a drupe, with 1 seed; [Monocot]
               8 Leaf lobe < 13, most of these sublobed; venation of each lobe pinnate; fruit either a many-seeded berry or a single-seeded nutlet; [Eudicot].
                 9 Petiole attachment marginal; leaf lobe mostly sublobed; fruit a large berry, with many seeds
                 9 Petiole attachment peltate; leaf lobe not sublobed; fruit an nutlet, single-seeded
             7 Leaves < 3 dm long and wide; tree branching; [Eudicot].
                   10 Leaves 2-lobed (deeply notched at the apex), each lobe separated by the midvein, asymmetrical; [peninsular FL and s. TX]
                   10 Leaves 3-5 (-7) lobed; [collectively widespread].
                     11 Leaf blade (3-) 5 (-7) lobed, to 15 cm wide and long, each lobe finely serrate-crenate (>3 teeth per cm of margin) and rarely with a small sub-lobe; multiple fruit spherical and spiky, consisting of multiple bird-beak-like loculicidal capsule; buds axillary
                     11 Leaves 3 (-5)-lobed, to 35 cm wide and long, each lobe coarsely toothed or sublobed, the teeth or sublobes (at most 1-2 per cm of margin) attenuate-acuminate; multiple fruit spherical and merely rough on the surface, consisting of multiple achene with tawny bristle; buds infrapetiolar (completely hidden in the swollen petiole base)
                                16 Leaves 10-30 cm long and wide; fruit a berry; inflorescence of solitary to a few flowers, or a raceme

Key G5: shrubs and subshrubs with alternate, simple, unlobed, toothed leaves

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1 Subshrub or dwarf shrubs, aboveground stems creeping or erect, < 15 cm tall; leaves evergreen.
  2 Leaves 1.5-3 cm wide, coarsely toothed; flowers lacking sepal and petal; [exotic species, sparingly naturalized or spreading in suburban situations]
  2 Leaves < 1.5 cm wide, finely toothed or entire; flowers with sepal and petal; [native species, collectively widespread and common].
    3 Leaves fleshy, terete in ×-section; petal 5, bright pink
    3 Leaves flat, not fleshy; petal white or pale pink.
      4 Leaves < 2.5 mm wide; corolla with petal distinct; plant creeping
      4 Leaves > 5 mm wide; corolla with petal fused (distinct in Chimaphila); plant creeping or erect
1 Shrubs, aboveground stems erect, > 30 cm tall; leaves evergreen or deciduous.
        5 Inflorescence an involucrate (composite) head subtended by phyllaries, the heads solitary or many and variously arrayed in secondary inflorescence, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamen 5, the fruit a cypsela
        5 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above.
          6 Leaves evergreen.
             7 Leaves glandular-punctate on one or both surfaces with golden-yellow gland; flowers unisexual, lacking a perianth (arranged in axillary catkin); fruit a pale gray, waxy drupe with a single seed
             7 Leaves not glandular punctate; flowers bisexual or unisexual, with a white, pink, or yellow perianth; fruit various: a red, blue, or black drupe, a berry with several seeds, or a capsule.
               8 Petal connate, flowers urceolate (ERICACEAE) or rotate, white to pale pink; flowers bisexual; fruit a drupe (Ehretia in EHRETIACEAE), OR a capsule or berry (ERICACEAE)
                 9 Flowers rotate, fragrant, the petal white, arranged primarily in terminal cyme; fruit an orange or yellow drupe, each bearing 2 hemispheric nutlet (these each also composed of 2 seeds, thus the fruit bearing 4 seeds)
                 9 Flowers urceolate, fragrant or not, the petal white to pale pink, variously arranged in terminal or axillary inflorescence (occasionally solitary in axil); fruit either a capsule or a red, blue, or black berry
               8 Petal distinct, yellow or white; flowers unisexual or bisexual; fruit either a black or red drupe with several pyrene, a red berry with several seeds, or red or black pome.
                   10 Plants with nodal, simple or tripartite thorn; flowers bisexual, with a yellow perianth; fruit a red berry with several seeds
                   10 Plants lacking thorn; flowers unisexual or bisexual, with a white perianth (yellow or red in Ochna); fruit either a black or red drupe with several pyrene or a red or black pome.
                     11 Petal yellow, clawed; sepal red and forming a persistent red receptacle (torus) bearing numerous blackened drupe.
                     11 Petal white, not clawed; sepal not bright red nor persistent, the fruit a drupe or pome.
                       12 Flowers unisexual; fruit a black or red drupe with several pyrene
                          13 Plants lacking thorn; leaf teeth acute, blunt, rounded, or callus-tipped, but not spinulose.
                              15 Leaves crenate or serrate, but usually not wavy, pubescence of leaves and stems simple
                            14 Leaves crenulate, serrate or serrulate, with >2 teeth per cm of leaf margin; leaves cuneate, rounded, or subcordate at base, not oblique; pubescence of leaves and stems absent or simple.
                                  17 Ovary 5-locular; stamen many or 5, fused or separate; fruit a 5-valved capsule or of 5 mericarp; flowers yellow or pink, or white with a pink blaze
                                  17 Ovary 3-locular; stamen 5, separate; fruit a 3-valved capsule or drupe; flowers white or pale green
                                    18 Flowers in catkin; perianth absent or very small; fruit a 1-seeded nut, samara, or waxy drupe (capsule in Salix in SALICACEAE).
                                       19 Leaves < 3 cm wide, either punctate-glandular on one or both surfaces or lacking punctate gland; fruit a 1-seeded waxy drupe or a capsule.
                                    18 Flowers arrayed variously, but not in catkin; perianth present, conspicuous; fruit a 1-many-seeded capsule, pome, berry, or follicle.
                                                      26 Petal separate (or absent in Rhamnus alnifolia); stamen opposite to the petal (when present) and alternate to the sepal; fruit 2-4-locular, with 2-4 pyrene
                                                              30 Stamen 5; ovary and capsule 2-locular; leaves elliptic (widest near the middle), the teeth fine (usually > 5 points per cm of margin), and along much of the margin; inflorescence a terminal raceme; hair of the lower leaf surface simple, erect
                                                              30 Stamen 10; ovary and capsule 3-locular; leaves obovate (widest towards the apex), the teeth obscure to coarse (usually < 4 points per cm of margin), and primarily in the upper half of the leaf; inflorescence a terminal or axillary raceme or cyme; hair of the lower leaf surface either simple and appressed, or stellate.
                                                                 31 Leaf margin regularly and evenly serrate in the upper half of the leaf (usually nearly entire towards the base); inflorescence an elongate, many flowered (>30) raceme borne at the end of branchlet of the season; corolla of separate petal, the stamen separate; hair of the lower leaf surface simple and appressed
                                                                 31 Leaf margin wavy or irregularly dentate, mainly in the upper half of the leaf; inflorescence a few flowered (<20) axillary raceme, cyme, or cluster; corolla fused basally into a tube, the stamen adnate to the tube; hair of the lower leaf surface stellate

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 inflorescence, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamen 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 bract, e.g. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamen 4, or green calyx present, or petal separate, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarp, etc.).
  2 Basal leaves 2-lobed, pinnately lobed, or palmately lobed (not considering cordate, hastate, or auriculate leaf base as “lobed”).
    3 Basal leaves 2-lobed, hinged between the lobe, each lobe with stiff, marginal, eyelash-like bristle; [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 pistil (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate
        5 Gynoecium of a single pistil (with 2, rarely more, carpel); fruit simple.
          6 Stamen many; sepal 2, petal 4; fresh plants with yellow, orange, or white milky juice
          6 Stamen 4, 5, or 6; sepal 4 or 5; petal 4 or 5.
             7 Petal 5, fused; stamen 2, 4, or 5.
               8 Corolla 2-lipped, bilaterally symmetrical or asymmetrical; stamen 2 or 4.
                 9 Corolla lobe not twisted, the flower bilaterally symmetrical; stamen 2
                 9 Corolla lobe twisted so as to make the flower asymmetrical; stamen 4
      4 Leaf lobing palmate.
                              15 Gynoecium of separate pistil (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 achene, utricle, or follicle
  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 sepal and petal (except uniseriate, of 3 fused sepal in ARISTOLOCHIACEAE).
                                                      26 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical; inflorescence a terminal spike (with > 20 flowers); petal 4, usually scarious, transparent; sepal 4, green; stamen 4
                                                      26 Flowers radially symmetrical; inflorescence either of a solitary flower or of a 1-7-flowered terminal cyme; petal 5, 8-12, or 0; sepal 5 (green), 3 (brown), or 5-9 (yellow); stamen 5, 12, or many.
                                                        27 Gynoecium of separate pistil (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate of achene or follicle; flowers bright yellow, either of 5-9 distinct petaloid sepal, or of 8-12 distinct petal subtended by 3-4 green distinct sepal
                                                        27 Gynoecium either of a single pistil with 6 carpel or of a single pistil with 4 carpel or of 2 nearly separate carpel; fruit a simple capsule (or deeply 2-lobed); flowers white, brown, or greenish, either of 5 fused or distinct white petal and 5 fused or distinct green sepal, or of 3 fused brown or greenish petaloid sepal.
                                                              30 Fruit a deeply 2-lobed capsule; sepal longer or ca. as long as petal; petal not undulate, fused at their base or distal ½, the anther maroon or brown-colored; [common, widespread in our area]
                                                                 31 Gynoecium of separate pistil (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate; perianth of 5 green sepal and 5 colored petal (or of 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepal in Begonia).
                                                                   32 Flowers typically with 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepal; leaf base conspicuously oblique (sometimes variegated); fruit unequally or subequally 3-winged capsule; [ornamental waif or uncommon non-natives]
                                                                   32 Flowers with 5 green sepal and 5 colored petal (not merged into tepal); leaf base oblique or not; fruit various but not 3-winged capsule; [natives and non-natives].
                                                                              37 Inflorescence a terminal raceme; perianth of 4 green sepal and 4 white petal; 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); stamen 2, 3, or 4.
                                                                                           43 Corolla distinctly 2-lipped (with prominently large upper and lower corolla lobe) or hooded (the upper lip hood-like), distinctly bilaterally symmetrical, or the lobe twisted so as to make the corolla asymmetrical.

Key P1: herbaceous dicots with alternate, 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 inflorescence, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamen 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. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamen 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarp, etc.).
  2 Perianth uniseriate (represented only by undifferentiated tepal or sepal; look at the front and back of the flowers for two layers) or completely absent; flowers usually unisexual, less commonly bisexual).
    3 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 gland, these sometimes brightly colored and petaloid, mimicking an individual flower (the cyathia then secondarily arranged in terminal cyme, or solitary and axillary, etc.); fresh plants with milky juice; fruit a 3-lobed, 3-locular capsule
    3 Inflorescence not a cyathium (and staminate or bisexual flowers with > 1 stamen; fresh plants lacking milky juice (except Stillingia in EUPHORBIACEAE); fruit various, not as above.
        5 Leaf teeth rounded to subacute, resembling shallow lobe, irregular, few (mostly < 6 per leaf side).
          6 Fruit a single-seeded achene or utricle; [plants of various disturbed or saline, usually sunny habitats]
          6 Fruit a 3-lobed, circumscissilely dehiscent capsule; [plants native of rich moist shaded forests or exotic in suburban woodlands]
        5 Leaf teeth sharp to crenate, not lobe-like, regular, many (mostly > 10 per leaf side).
             7 Leaf base cuneate (or strongly oblique in Begonia, with one leaf base usually being cuneate, the other variously rounded or cordate).
               8 Flowers typically with 2 or 4 (-5) showy, white-colored tepal; leaves sometimes variegated; fruit unequally or subequally 3-winged capsule; [ornamental waif or uncommon non-natives]
               8 Flowers cyathia, not merely bearing showy tepal; leaf not variegated but sometimes bearing darkened red or black splotches; fruit capsule, but these not conspicuously winged; [natives and non-natives, usually not ornamental]
                 9 Style 3; fruit a 3-lobed, 3-carpellate capsule (1 carpel sometimes aborting); inflorescence either a terminal or leaf opposed raceme, or a dense axillary condensed cyme with conspicuous toothed bract subtending the flowers
                 9 Style 1 or 2; fruit either an achene or a multiple of achene; inflorescence either an axillary dense cyme (almost a head), or an axillary spike with glomerule, or a terminal or axillary panicle.
                   10 Style 2; inflorescence a dense axillary cyme (almost a head); fruit a multiple of achene; plant lacking stinging hair; [exotic plant of weedy situations]
                   10 Style 1; inflorescence an axillary spike with glomerule, or a terminal or axillary panicle; plant either with stinging hair or not; [plant a rare exotic (Boehmeria nivea) or a native of moist forests (Boehmeria cylindrica, Laportea)]
                     11 Ovary inferior (flowers epigynous, the ovary sitting below the perianth and androecium) or half-inferior (perigynous, the ovary sitting level with the remaining floral parts).
                       12 Leaf base cordate; calyx 3-lobed, fused into a bilaterally symmetrical, curved brown or yellowish tube; fruit a capsule
                       12 Leaf base cuneate, rounded, or truncate; calyx of 3-4-5 distinct sepal, radially symmetrical, white or yellow; fruit a dry, nutlike drupe or an achene.
                          13 Leaves subsessile or very short petiolate, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, broadest near the middle; [native]
                          13 Leaves distinctly petiolate, rhombic, widest near the base; [rarely naturalized exotic].
                              15 Inflorescence a leaf-opposed spike or raceme, the inflorescence arising opposite of stem leaves (except Saururus, whose spikelike raceme are leaf-opposed and/or terminal); flowers visually white from white petaloid sepal, white bract, or white stamen.
                                16 Sepal present, 4 or 5; petaloid, white; carpel 1 to many (-12); stamen 4 to many (-25); fruit a berry or an apically 2-lobed achene (as in Petiveria); leaf base cuneate or rounded (but not cordate); [Eudicot].
                              15 Inflorescence not leaf opposed, instead arising with stem leaves (axillary) or terminal, the inflorescence not spike nor raceme, instead either simpler (single axillary or glomerule of flowers) or more complexly branched (terminal or axilary panicle or terminal complex cyme); flowers white, reddish, scarious, or greenish.
                                             22 Sepal petaloid, pink and relatively conspicuous (although the sepal ca. 1-3 mm in length); plants prostrate to somewhat ascending annuals; leaves opposite or nearly whorled; achene muricate
                                             22 Sepal not petaloid, inconspicuous, green or greyish in color; plants prostrate or erect, annual or perennial; leaves alternate OR either alternate or opposite (Amaranthaceae); achene variously textured (smooth or textured, sometimes reticulate or verrucose, but rarely muricate).
  2 Perianth biseriate (represented by differentiated whorl of sepal and petal, the sepal usually green or drab in color, the petal often brightly colored); flowers nearly always bisexual (there are exceptions).
                                                        27 Inflorescence not a dense, leaf-opposed spike, instead a terminal head or variously axillary or terminal (the flowers solitary or not, but not in a dense spike).
                                                          28 Flowers yellow; stamen numerous (15+), monomorphic or heteromorphic (inner and outer of differing length), conspicuously exerted from the flowers, often surpassing the ovary; leaves basally lobed or unlobed (often a mix in M. floridana and M. oligosperma)
                                                          28 Flowers blue or white; stamen fewer (usually < 10), monomorphic, if exerted, the ovary usually still apparent; leaves unlobed.
                                                                   32 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical (zygomorphic), petal connate, at least basally (except distinct in VIOLACEAE); fruit a capsule or legume (the capsule conspicuously spiny in Krameria).
                                                                     33 Petal connate (at least basally), 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8; carpel 1, 2, 4, 5, or 6 (rarely 3 in Reseda in RESEDACEAE); fruit a legume or 1-, 2-, or 5-loculed capsule (except a 1-seeded indehiscent pod in Krameria in KRAMERIACEAE).
                                                                                38 Pistil 2-carpellate; capsule 2 locular, opening gradually or not at all; inflorescence a terminal spike, raceme or panicle (or solitary, axillary flowers in Chaenorrhinum in PLANTAGINACEAE and Krameria in KRAMERIACEAE).
                                                                                    40 Stamen 4; corolla with a distinct spur or sac at the base between the the 2 lower calyx lobe (except not spurred in Digitalis and Schwalbea); capsule loculicidal (only at the summit in Antirrhinum and Chaenorrhinum, and septicidal in Schwalbea); pubescence of the stem and leaves neither gland-tipped (except in Antirrhinum and Chaenorrhinum) nor dendritically branched.
                                                                                             44 Pistil 1, with 1-to many carpel (in many MALVACEAE, the carpel loosely united in a ring [of more than 5] around the single style/stigma); fruit either a 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 6-, or 10-locular capsule, or a silique/silicle, or a ring of mericarp.
                                                                                                                                  61 Plants usually strongly gray or white-colored and villous, growing in short, suffrutescent mounds or mats; leaves densely pubescent (hair densely appressed adaxially, tomentose abaxially); inflorescence of solitary flowers or extra-axillary, never scirpioid; corolla lavender or whitish-lavender, the lobe 1.8-3.0 (-4.5) mm long, broadly rounded; [s. TX, westward; primarily of the Trans-Pecos region]
                                                                                                                                  61 Plants variously glabrous or pubescent (sometimes villous), usually herbaceous, occasionally suffrutescent and mound or mat-forming; inflorescence variously elongate or racemose, often scirpioid (curved or coiled on one side of the inflorescence axis; e.g., Heliotropium), occasionally solitary (e.g., Euploca, in part; although in this case the leaves of the shrubby Euploca are significantly narrower); corolla variously colored (including lavender); [plants collectively widespread, including TX]

Key P2: herbaceous dicots with alternate, simple, and palmately lobed 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 inflorescence, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamen 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. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamen 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarp, etc.).
  2 Plant a vine, climbing by tendril or twining.
  2 Plant an herb, sometimes sprawling, reclining (e.g. Cymbalaria in PLANTAGINACEAE, Aconitum in RANUNCULACEAE), but lacking climbing adaptations such as tendril or twining stems.
          6 Ovary inferior; inflorescence an umbel (or flowers solitary or in dichasia in Mentzelia); fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarp or a capsule (Mentzelia).
             7 Flowers solitary or in dichasia; fruit capsule dehiscing via apical valve
          6 Ovary superior; inflorescence various, not an umbel; fruit various, a capsule, an aggregate of achene or follicle, or a ring of (>2) mericarp.
                 9 Perianth uniseriate, the corolla absent (the calyx petaloid and white in Cnidoscolus); flowers unisexual; plants either with stinging hair or not
                 9 Perianth biseriate (uniseriate in Aphanes in ROSACEAE and in Trautvetteria in RANUNCULACEAE); flowers bisexual; plants lacking stinging hair.
                   10 Pistil many (or 2-3 in Aphanes in ROSACEAE), each with 1 carpel, arranged spirally or in a ring (if in a ring, of 2-5); fruit an aggregate of achene, follicle, or utricle.
                     11 Perianth bilaterally symmetrical, either hooded or spurred; fruit an aggregate of follicle
                     11 Perianth radially symmetrical, not hooded or spurred; fruit an aggregate of utricle or achene (plumose achene in Geum)
                       12 Stamen showy, bright white, dilated towards the tip; pistil ca. 15; fruit an aggregate of utricle
                       12 Stamen not showy, white, or dilated towards the tip; pistil many (> 25); fruit an aggregate of achene.
                   10 Pistil 1, with 1-to many carpel (in many MALVACEAE, the carpel loosely united in a ring of more than 5 around the style); fruit a capsule, an achene, a follicle, or a ring of 3 or 5-many 1-seeded mericarp.
                              15 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical, the petal connate (except distinct in Delphinium in RANUNCULACEAE); fruit a capsule, a follicle, or a schizocarp of 3 1-seeded mericarp.
                              15 Corolla radially symmetrical, the petal distinct (fused and tubular in Ipomoea); fruit a capsule or a schizocarp consisting of a ring of 5-many 1-seeded mericarp.
                                         20 Stamen many, connate into a stamen tube; carpel 5-many, completely or only loosely fused; fruit a capsule or a schizocarp of 5-many mericarp borne in a ring; calyx often subtended by an epicalyx (an additional calyx-like, green, foliaceous whorl of bract)