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.
Key to Polemoniaceae
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40283
2 Leaves opposite, linear to lanceolate, in some species needle-like or nearly so; [collectively widespread] | |
3 Leaves simple and entire. | |
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 | |
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
Copy permalink to share | Check for keys that lead to this key
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40728
1 Plants terrestrial, autotrophic or hemiparasitic shrubs or subshrubs. | |
2 Leaves herbaceous or leathery (succulent in Borrichia), much wider than thick; [various habitats]. | |
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] | |
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. | |
9 Upright shrubs, unarmed. | |
11 Inflorescence a terminal head of many flowers. | |
12 Head flattened, either subtended by 4 large white bracts or by an involucre with >5 green phyllaries. | |
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]} | |
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 lacking prominent glandular ribs, the fruit not generally sticky. | |
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 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]. | |
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. | |
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. | |
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] | |
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] | |
30 Petals not clawed, the width similar throughout; fruit a drupe or capsule; inflorescence axillary and terminal. | |
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] | |
32 Inflorescence a drooping axillary raceme (sometimes minutely so), flowers zygomorphic; fruit a drupe | |
32 Inflorescence various, if a raceme then not conspicuously drooping, flowers actinomorphic; fruit a drupe or capsule. | |
Key S1: herbaceous dicots with opposite, simple, and unlobed leaves on the stem
Copy permalink to share | Check for keys that lead to this key
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40746
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)]. | |
5 Leaves herbaceous, suborbicular, about as long as wide or wider than long; calyx 3- or 4-merous; stamens 4, 8, or 12. | |
5 Leaves fleshy, linear, lanceolate, to broadly ovate, at least slightly longer than broad; calyx 5-merous; stamens 3, 5, or 10. | |
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] | |
9 Petals connate into a tube (at least basally); inflorescence often a head or dense terminal cyme (also axillary, or solitary on long peduncles). | |
15 Leaves serrate; corolla bilaterally symmetrical (especially the flowers near the outer edge of the head); inflorescence a head | |
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 1 (or 2) in leaf axils; leaves entire. | |
20 Flowers bisexual; sepals 4; flowers with 2, 4, or 6 stamens. | |
17 Perianth in 2 whorls (sepals and petals both present). | |
28 Pistils 4-5, in a single whorl; stamens 4, 5, 8, or 10; fruit an aggregate of follicles | |
29 Petals not at all connate, not even at their bases. | |
32 Petals 4-7; sepals 4-7, normally monomorphic; stamens 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, or 12 (or sometimes rarely 2 or 3). | |
29 Petals connate at least for a short distance at their bases. | |
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. | |
39 Inflorescence a terminal cyme; corolla salverform, with an elongated and very narrow tube, pink or white; capsule 3-locular | |
39 Inflorescence various but not cymose, of terminal or axillary racemes or panicles, or of solitary axillary flowers; corolla connate only at the base, the petals appearing nearly separate (not salverform); capsule 1-locular | |
37 Ovary and capsule 2-carpellate; fruit either a 2-locular capsule or of 2 or 4 1-seeded nutlets derived from 2 carpels. | |
41 Capsule septicidal; corolla white, pink, blue, yellowish white, or greenish white; inflorescence either a terminal or axillary cyme, or a terminal panicle or raceme, or a terminal or axillary cyme reduced to 1 or a few flowers | |
41 Capsule loculicidal and also deeply 2-lobed; corolla white, pink, or scarlet with a yellow interior; inflorescence of cymosely arranged spikes | |
43 Fruit a schizocarp of 4 1-seeded nutlets; inflorescence terminal, of cymes; corolla ca. 5 mm long; leaves prominently 3-veined | |
43 Fruit a capsule; inflorescence axillary, of cymes or clusters (often reduced to a solitary flower); corolla > 12 mm long; leaves with single primary vein | |
42 Leaves serrate; corolla salverform, the tube narrow and nearly the same diameter for most of its length; inflorescence a terminal spike, raceme, raceme of racemes, or head. | |
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 | |
48 Corolla 4-5-lobed, either strongly bilabiate or salverform (Pseuderanthemum in ACANTHACEAE); white, blue, or yellow. | |
54 Flowers in terminal racemes, panicles, or spikes, the inflorescence not interspersed with large, leaf-like bracts. | |
55 Sepals connate for at least 0.3× their length to form a tube (this cup-like and flaring in Scrophularia in SCROPHULARIACEAE). | |
56 Inflorescence a diffuse panicle; corolla 5-11 mm long, reddish-brown (sometimes with some yellow); fruit a septicidal capsule | |
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). | |
57 Corolla 6-8 mm long, white to pale pink; fruit a 1-seeded achene contained in the accrescent calyx, this “lopping down” against the inflorescence axis | |
58 Sepals separate to the base or nearly so, not forming a tube. | |
60 Leaves entire, either mostly larger or smaller [see below]; plant not blackening on drying | |
61 Leaves 3-30 cm long, narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, > 2× as long as wide; plants erect or the stems sprawling; [plants mostly of uplands] | |
58 Sepals connate for at least 0.3× their length to form a tube. | |
62 Corolla yellow, orange, or red. | |
64 Corolla red or orange, with a very narrow, cylindrical tube, the lobes then flaring into a limb about 1 cm across; plants blackening on drying; [rare exotic, in crop fields, a noxious hemiparasitic weed under quarantine] | |
64 Corolla yellow, not narrowly cylindrical, the lower lip arched; plants not blackening on drying; [rare, in seepage wetlands] | |
62 Corolla white, pale blue, lavender, or pink (sometimes with some yellow). | |
65 Corolla white, blue, or combinations of blue and white (sometimes with some yellow markings); leaves broader, mostly lanceolate; plants not blackening on drying; corolla strongly bilabiate. | |