Click the number at the start of a key lead to highlight both that lead and its corresponding lead. Click again to show only the two highlighted leads. Click a third time to return to the full key with the selected leads still highlighted.
1 Leaves dissected, lobed, or toothed (sometimes the basalmost leaves simple); style fused for a portion of its length, 2- cleft toward the tip; ovary with 1 locule |
1 Leaves entire, simple; style various. |
2 Styles 2, distinct to the summit of the ovary |
3 Flowers in axillary cymes; capsule subglobose; leaves 2-12 cm long |
3 Flowers solitary or paired in the leaf axils; capsule cylindrical; leaves 0.5-8 cm long |
2 Styles absent (the stigma sessile and terminal), single, or with 2 branches. |
4 Ovary slightly 2-4- lobed, or not at all lobed; style terminal or reduced to a sessile terminal stigma |
4 Ovary deeply 4-parted; style gynobasic. |
5 Mericarps with glochidiate prickles (like grappling hooks), these visible early in development. |
6 Mericarps spreading or divergent, attached to the gynobase on the upper third of the mericarp. |
7 Flowering stem leafless above the first branch; corolla blue or white; [non- weedy natives]; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Cynoglosseae; subtribe Amsinckiinae] |
7 Flowering stem with leaves above the first inflorescence branch; corolla blue, pink, or reddish-purple; [ weedy exotics]; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Cynoglosseae; subtribe Cynoglossinae] |
6 Mericarps erect, attached to the gynobase near the middle of the mericarp; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Rochelieae; subtribe Eritrichiinae]. |
8 Fruiting pedicels deflexed; plant perennial or biennial |
8 Fruiting pedicels erect- ascending; plant annual |
5 Mericarps smooth, rugose, or pitted, lacking glochidiate prickles. |
9 Corolla rotate, lacking a well-developed tube, blue; [subfamily Boraginoideae; tribe Boragineae; subtribe Boragininae] |
9 Corolla with a well-developed tube at least 3 mm long, of various colors (including blue). |
10 Corolla lobes distinctly unequal, pink to blue; [subfamily Boraginoideae]. |
11 Stamens equal in length, entirely included within the corolla tube; [tribe Boragineae; subtribe Boragininae] |
11 Stamens unequal in length, the longer conspicuously exserted; [tribe Lithospermeae] |
10 Corolla lobes equal, of various colors (including pink to blue); [subfamily Cynoglossoideae]. |
12 Plant a scrambling climber with retrorsely prickly- hispid stems; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Asperugeae] |
|
13 Mericarps attached laterally to a pyramidal gynobase. |
14 Corolla yellow, the tube 4-5 mm long; corolla throat lacking appendages; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Cynoglosseae; subtribe Amsinckiinae] |
14 Corolla white (with a yellow eye), or pink to blue, the tube 6-20 mm long; corolla throat with appendages. |
15 Corolla pink to blue (rarely white), 18-25 mm long; leaves elliptic or ovate; [plant a native, of moist, nutrient-rich habitats, and sometimes grown as an ornamental] ;[subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Asperugeae] |
15 Corolla white with a yellow eye; leaves linear; [plant a rare exotic, of disturbed habitats]; [subfamily Cynoglossoideae; tribe Cynoglosseae; subtribe Amsinckiinae] |
13 Mericarps attached basally to a flat or broadly convex gynobase. |
|
16 Mericarps neither laterally compressed nor with an evident thickened margin. |
17 Mericarps with a prominent, toothed, basal rim; [subfamily Boraginoideae; tribe Boragineae; subtribe Boragininae] |
17 Mericarps lacking a prominent, toothed, basal rim; [subfamily Boraginoideae; tribe Lithospermeae]. |
18 Corolla whitish or bluish white; plant annual from a slender taproot; leaves without evident lateral veins; mericarps brown, dull, wrinkled and pitted; [plant a weedy exotic] |
18 Corolla bright yellow-orange, or greenish-white; plant perennial from a thickened, woody rhizome; mericarps white, shining, smooth or pitted; [plant a native] |