1 Aerial and epiphytic, hemiparasitic shrub

1 Terrestrial, autotrophic or hemiparasitic shrub or subshrub.

..2 Leaves succulent, nearly as thick as wide; [brackish to saline situations]

..2 Leaves herbaceous (succulent in Borrichia), much wider than thick; [various habitats].

....3 Creeping or short subshrubs, the stems primarily prostrate, < 2 dm tall.

......4 Well-developed leaves 4-6 per stem; inflorescence a head subtended by 4 large white bracts

......4 Well-developed leaves many per stem; inflorescence of individual flowers axillary in pairs or clusters or in terminal cymes.

........5 Flowers yellow; leaves with pellucid or dark punctate glands (use at least 10× magnification)

........5 Flowers white, pale pink, or deep pink; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.

..........6 Leaves linear; flowers pale to deep pink, 5-merous

..........6 Leaves orbicular or elliptic; flowers white to pale pink, 4-merous or 5-merous

............ 7 Leaves elliptic; flowers 5-merous; fruit a brownish capsule

............ 7 Leaves orbicular; flowers 4-merous; fruit a red berry

....3 Upright or scrambling shrubs, > 3 dm tall

............ ..8 Scrambling shrubs, armed with recurved paired spines at the nodes

............ ..8 Upright shrubs, unarmed.

............ ....9 Inflorescence a terminal head of many flowers.

............ ......10 Head spherical, lacking an involucre of conspicuous bracts or phyllaries

............ ......10 Head flattened, either subtended by 4 large white bracts or by an involucre with >5 green phyllaries.

............ ........11 Head subtended by 4 large white bracts; leaves with prominently parallel-arcing secondary veins; flowers 4-merous

............ ........11 Head subtended by an involucre of >5 green phyllaries; leaves with venation otherwise; flowers 5-merous

............ ....9 Inflorescence otherwise, 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; [Laguncularia] COMBRETACEAE; [Buxus] BUXACEAE; [Exochorda] ROSACEAE; various other [see spreadsheet]}

............ ..........12 Inflorescence flat-topped (broader than long), terminal, a compound cyme or corymb.

............ ............ 13 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)

............ ............ 13 Flowers white or creamy; stamens 4-5; leaves > 1.5 cm wide; fruit a drupe; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.

............ ............ ..14 Petals 5; foliage with simple hairs

............ ............ ..14 Petals 4; foliage with T-shaped hairs

............ ..........12 Inflorescence either terminal and not flat-topped (longer than wide), or axillary and variously shaped, or terminal and solitary, or leaf-opposed.

............ ............ ....15 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).

............ ............ ......16 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

............ ............ ....15 Carpels 1-5, fused; stamens either 1-5 or 8-10; 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 (pistillate flowers sometimes solitary in SANTALACEAE and THESIACEAE); [Eudicots].

............ ............ ........17 Ovary inferior; corolla absent, radially symmetrical, or bilaterally symmetrical; fruit either a berry or a 1-seeded drupe.

............ ............ ..........18 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

............ ............ ............ 19 Inflorescences terminal

............ ............ ............ 19 Inflorescences axillary

............ ............ ..........18 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

............ ............ ........17 Ovary superior; corolla radially symmetrical (absent in Forestiera in OLEACEAE); fruit either a 1-4-seeded drupe, or a many-seeded berry (or berry-like fruit), or a capsule.

............ ............ ............ ..20 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]

............ ............ ............ ..20 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.

............ ............ ............ ....21 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]

............ ............ ............ ....21 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].

............ ............ ............ ......22 Petals separate, 4-5, white or cream; stamens 4-5.

............ ............ ............ ........23 Fruit a loculicidal capsule, dehiscing into 3 valves; branches square in ×-section; leaves < 2 cm long; [alien, cultivated and weakly established, of temperate areas]

............ ............ ............ ........23 Fruit a drupe with 2-4 pyrenes; branches round or nearly so in ×-section; leaves > 2 cm long; [natives, of peninsular FL]

............ ............ ............ ......22 Petals fused, 4-5, white, bright yellow, lilac, or pink; stamens either (1-) 2 (-4) or 10; fruit either a capsule or a 1-seeded drupe.

............ ............ ............ ..........24 Perianth 5-merous; corolla pink; stamens 10; fruit a 5-locular capsule

............ ............ ............ ..........24 Perianth 4-merous; corolla white, bright yellow, or lilac; stamens (1-) 2 (-4); fruit either a 1-seeded drupe or a 2-locular capsule