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Key to Polemoniaceae

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1 Plant a low shrub or subshrub, woody at base or throughout, < 3 dm tall.
  2 Leaves alternate, palmately divided into 3-7, sharp-tipped linear segments; [rare waif]
  2 Leaves opposite, linear to lanceolate, in some species needle-like or nearly so; [collectively widespread]
1 Plant an herb, 1-20 dm tall.
    3 Leaves simple and entire.
      4 Leaves alternate; [subfamily Polemonioideae; tribe Gilieae]
      4 Leaves all or at least the lower opposite; [subfamily Polemonioideae; tribe Polemoniae]
    3 Leaves compound or deeply divided or lobed, 1-3× pinnately or 1× palmately.
        5 Leaves 1× palmately divided into linear segments; leaves all opposite; [rare waif]
        5 Leaves 1-3× pinnately divided into linear or broader segments; leaves all alternate, or at least the upper and midstem leaves alternate.
          6 Corollas salverform or funnelform, the tube narrow and 20-40 mm long, red, yellow, white, or lavender; larger leaves 1-pinnately lobed, the ultimate segments linear (and not further divided or toothed)
          6 Corollas variously funnelform, rotate, campanulate, the tube broadening and 3-21 mm long, lavender, white, blue, violet, or pink; larger leaves 1× or more (2-3) pinnately divided or lobed, the ultimate segments linear or broader (ovate, elliptic).
             7 Leaves 1-pinnately compound, the leaflets ovate or elliptic, 5-16 mm wide, entire; corollas campanulate, borne in a corymb
             7 Leaves 1-3-pinnately divided, the segments either broad or linear, 0.5-5 mm wide, often toothed, lobed or additionally divided; corollas rotate or funnelform, borne either in diffuse panicles or in bracted, terminal heads or head-like clusters.
               8 Inflorescences diffuse panicles; corollas rotate; leaf lobes broad (or linear in Giliastrum acerosum)
               8 Inflorescences of bracted terminal heads or head-like clusters (sometimes looser); leaf lobes linear.
                 9 Inflorescence bracts not spinose; inflorescence on a long peduncle; flowers blue; plant 1-9 dm tall
                 9 Inflorescence bracts spine-tipped; inflorescence not long-pedunculate, subtended by bracts; flowers white; plant < 1 dm tall

Key J4: shrubs and subshrubs with opposite simple leaves with entire margins

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1 Plants aerial and epiphytic, hemiparasitic shrubs (usually growing out of the branches of trees)
1 Plants terrestrial, autotrophic or hemiparasitic shrubs or subshrubs.
  2 Leaves succulent, nearly as thick as wide; [brackish to saline situations]
  2 Leaves herbaceous or leathery (succulent in Borrichia), much wider than thick; [various habitats].
    3 Creeping or short subshrubs, the stems primarily prostrate (< 2 dm tall), or spreading-ascending to decumbent and < 3 dm tall (MALPIGHIACEAE, in part; Galphimia primarily erect subshrubs to 1 m tall, of TX only in our area).
      4 Petals clawed, the bases noticeably thinned compared to the broader tips; fruit schizocarps, breaking into 2-3 nutlets or 1-seeded cocci; [in part, Aspicarpa and Galphimia]
      4 Petals not clawed, of relatively similar width from base to tip; fruit various, but never schizocarps of 2-3 nutlets or 1-seeded cocci.
        5 Well-developed leaves 4-6 per stem; inflorescence a head subtended by 4 large white bracts
        5 Well-developed leaves many per stem; inflorescence of individual flowers axillary in pairs or clusters or in terminal cymes.
          6 Flowers yellow; leaves with pellucid or dark punctate glands (use at least 10× magnification)
          6 Flowers white, pale pink, or deep pink; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.
             7 Leaves linear; flowers pale to deep pink, 5-merous
             7 Leaves orbicular or elliptic; flowers white to pale pink, 4-merous or 5-merous
    3 Upright or scrambling shrubs, > 3 dm tall.
                 9 Scrambling shrubs, armed with recurved paired spines at the nodes (except Santalum, which can be a scrambling shrub and has red flowers producing drupe-like fruit bearing an apical circular rim).
                   10 Plants armed with recurved paired spines at the nodes; fruit ribbed, the ribs obviously glandular; petioles not 2-ribbed; flowers greenish-white to yellowish in color
                   10 Plants unarmed; fruit not ribbed, instead drupe-like and bearing a circular rim at the apex; petioles 2-ribbed; flowers red
                       12 Head flattened, either subtended by 4 large white bracts or by an involucre with >5 green phyllaries.
                          13 Head subtended by 4 large white bracts; leaves with prominently parallel-arcing secondary veins; flowers 4-merous
                          13 Head subtended by an involucre of >5 green phyllaries; leaves with venation otherwise; flowers 5-merous
                     11 Inflorescence otherwise (if terminal, the flowers not arranged in heads), either of a solitary flower, or one of a wide variety of inflorescences with flowers attached at different points along branched or unbranched axes (e.g. axillary). {add: [Lagerstroemia] LYTHRACEAE; [Rosmarinus] LAMIACEAE; [Buxus] BUXACEAE; [Exochorda] ROSACEAE; various other [see spreadsheet]}
                              15 Leaves distinctly 3-veined from the base, the 3 veins converging again at the leaf apex; [s. FL only in our area]
                              15 Leaves with prominently pinnate venation; [collectively widespread]
                                16 Leaves conspicuously glandular-punctate and aromatic; fruit a berry; ovary inferior; flowers with abundant stamens and a cup-shaped hypanthium; (partial; Mosiera, Myrcianthes, Syzygium).
                                16 Leaves not glandular-punctate and aromatic (only herbaceous Hypericum sometimes with black or transluscent leaf punctae, thus keyed instead in S1); flowers with 1-5 or 8-10 stamens; fruit not a berry, instead either a capsule (Hypericum), drupe (Cornus; Viburnum), follicle (APOCYNACEAE), or prominently ribbed and stipitate anthocarp (Pisonia).
                                  17 Fruit prominently ribbed (an anthocarp), the ribs with stipitate glands, the fruit thus usually sticky (this persisting on herbarium specimens)
                                  17 Fruit lacking prominent glandular ribs, the fruit not generally sticky.
                                    18 Fresh plants with white, milky juice; pistils 2, united only by the style and stigma; fruit a pair of linear or fusiform follicles, > 5-8× as long as thick, these variously shaped (terete, compressed, or prominently 3-angled)
                                    18 Fresh plants not exuding a white, milky latex (instead clear or not apparent); pistil 1 (or 2-5 in Hypericum); fruit various, but not of paired, linear follicles (see below).
                                       19 Flowers bright yellow; stamens many; leaves < 1.5 cm wide; fruit a capsule; leaves with pellucid or dark punctate glands (use at least 10× magnification)
                                       19 Flowers white or creamy; stamens 4-5; leaves > 1.5 cm wide; fruit a drupe; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.
                            14 Inflorescence either terminal, axillary or leaf-opposed, if terminal elongate (not flat-topped) or flowers solitary; if axillary then variously arranged (sometimes also solitary in the axils).
                                           21 Carpels many (> 9), either separate or fused; stamens many; perianth segments either many and undifferentiated into calyx and corolla, maroon, brown, or yellow (in CALYCANTHACEAE), or differentiated into a fleshy and persistent calyx of 5-9 sepals, and a deciduous corolla of 5-9 red (or white) petals (Punica in LYTHRACEAE).
                                             22 Fruit a wrinkled, 3-7 cm long, brown to black, elliptical aggregate of nearly spherical, large achenes; flowers solitary in axils; perianth segments many and undifferentiated into calyx and corolla, maroon, brown, or yellowish; ovary superior; branches unarmed
                                             22 Fruit a leathery, 4-15 cm in diameter, reddish, spherical berry with obpyramidal seeds surrounded by a juicy sarcotesta (pomegranate); perianth differentiated, the sepals fleshy and persistent on the fruit, the petals deciduous, 5-9, bright red to white; ovary inferior; branches typically armed with axillary spines
                                           21 Carpels 1-5 (-6), fused; stamens either 1-5 or 8-10 (except 10+ in MYRTACEAE); perianth segments 4-5 or 8, variously colored; fruit a simple capsule, drupe, or berry (including berry-like fruit); flowers 2-many, in axillary or terminal inflorescences OR sometimes solitary (MYRTACEAE, SANTALACEAE, and THESIACEAE); [Eudicots].
                                               23 Ovary inferior (flowers epigynous); corolla either absent, radially symmetrical, OR bilaterally symmetrical; fruit either a berry or a 1-seeded drupe (a berry or apically dehiscent capsule in MYRTACEAE).
                                                 24 Leaves conspicuously glandular-punctate and aromatic, evergreen and usually coriaceous; fruit a berry or apically-dehiscent capsule; flowers with abundant stamens and a cup-shaped hypanthium.
                                                 24 Leaves not both conspicuously glandular-punctate nor aromatic, membranous and deciduous; fruit a drupe or berry; flowers with 1-5 or 8-10 stamens, with or without a cup-shaped hypanthium.
                                                    25 Flowers unisexual and plants dioecious; corolla absent; pistillate flowers solitary, staminate flowers in pedunculate umbels or cymes, either terminal or axillary; fruit a 1-seeded drupe; leaves acute to acuminate at the apex
                                                    25 Flowers bisexual and plants hermaphroditic; corolla present; flowers paired, terminal or axillary, or in axillary spikes; fruit a berry; leaves rounded, obtuse, to acute (or acuminate in Lonicera maackii) at the apex
                                               23 Ovary superior (flowers hypogynous); corolla primarily radially symmetrical (zygomorphic in Citharexylum in VERBENACEAE and MALPIGHIACEAE; absent in Forestiera in OLEACEAE); fruit either a 1-4-seeded drupe, or a many-seeded berry (or berry-like fruit), or a capsule.
                                                        27 Leaves with a conspicuous mix of silvery stellate hairs (upper) and rusty colored scales (lower); ovaries bearing rusty colored scales; flowers small, yellowish and inconspicuous; [nw. PA northward]
                                                        27 Leaves glabrous or nearly so, lacking a conspicuous mix of stellate hairs adaxially and rusty scales abaxially; ovaries not bearing rusty colored scales; flowers of various size and color.
                                                          28 Stamens 8-10, of 2 different lengths in each flower; petals separate, 4-5 (-7), pink purple, 10-15 mm long; stems strongly arching, rooting at the tips; [plants of flooded to saturated wetlands]
                                                          28 Stamens either (1-) 2 (-4), or 4-5, or 10, all of the same length; petals fused (separate in RHAMNACEAE and BUXACEAE, but then < 5 mm long and white or cream), white, bright-yellow, lilac, or pink; stems erect (or at least not arching and rooting at the tips); [plants of various habitats].
                                                              30 Petals clawed (the bases much thinner than the broader tips); fruit a drupe; inflorescence a terminal raceme (Byrsonima) or axillary corymbs or umbels (Malpighia); [in part, Byrsonima and Malpighia; some vining species will grow shrub-like, but those keyed in J3; TX and FL only in our area]
                                                                 31 Fruit a loculicidal capsule, dehiscing into 3 valves; branches square in ×-section; leaves < 2 cm long; [exotic, cultivated and weakly established, of temperate areas]
                                                                 31 Fruit a drupe with 2-4 pyrenes; branches round or nearly so in ×-section; leaves > 2 cm long; [natives, of peninsular FL]
                                                            29 Petals fused (at least basally), 4-5, white, bright yellow, lilac, or pink; stamens either (1-) 2 (-4) or 10; fruit either a capsule or a 1-seeded drupe.

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).
                     11 Petals 5; stamens 3, 4, or 5
                       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.
                                       19 Flowers many, in axillary spikes, cymes, or glomerules, or in terminal spikes, heads, cymes, or panicles; leaves entire or serrate.
                                               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).
                                                        27 Gynoecium either of 1 pistil (with 1 or more carpels), or of 2 pistils, united only by the style and stigma (APOCYNACEAE).
                                                              30 Leaves with pellucid punctate glands (most easily visible with transmitted light); stamens often fascicled into 3, 4, or 5 fascicles; petals yellow or pinkish
                                                                   32 Petals 3; sepals 5, dimorphic, the 2 outer sepals narrower than the 3 inner and concave sepals; stamens (3-) 5-15 (-25)
                                                                   32 Petals 4-7; sepals 4-7, normally monomorphic; stamens 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, or 12 (or sometimes rarely 2 or 3).
                                                                         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.
                                                                           36 Pistils 2, united only by the style and stigma; fruit a schizocarp of 2 1-carpellate follicles (often single by abortion); plant with milky juice when fresh (except Catharanthus); leaves entire
                                                                           36 Pistil 1 (of 2-5 fused carpels); fruit either a 2-5-carpellate capsule or of 2 or 4 1-seeded nutlets derived from 2 carpels; plant lacking milky juice; leaves entire or serrate.
                                                                                    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.
                                                                                               45 Carpels 2, each carpel slightly to deeply lobed, separating at maturity into 4 half-carpellate units (not separating in Phyla in VERBENACEAE); fruit a schizocarp of 4 mericarps (or 2 nutlets in Phyla in VERBENACEAE).
                                                                                                 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).