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Key G2: woody plants with alternate, simple, palmately lobed leaves
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3 Lianas climbing by tendrils. | |
7 Leaves > 3 dm long and wide; tree monopodial, with a single, unbranched stem (rarely with a few branches). | |
10 Leaves 3-5 (-7) lobed; [collectively widespread]. | |
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 achenes with tawny bristles; buds infrapetiolar (completely hidden in the swollen petiole base) | |
14 Leaves pubescent (slightly or strongly). | |
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 Subshrubs or dwarf shrubs, aboveground stems creeping or erect, < 15 cm tall; leaves evergreen. | |
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 inflorescences, the ovary inferior, the corolla connate and tubular at least basally, the calyx absent, the stamens 5, the fruit a cypsela | |
5 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above. | |
9 Flowers rotate, fragrant, the petals white, arranged primarily in terminal cymes; fruit an orange or yellow drupe, each bearing 2 hemispheric nutlets (these each also composed of 2 seeds, thus the fruit bearing 4 seeds) | |
11 Petals yellow, clawed; sepals red and forming a persistent red receptacle (torus) bearing numerous blackened drupes. | |
6 Leaves deciduous {add [Fagaceae]}. | |
15 Leaves crenate-wavy, with 1-2 teeth per cm of leaf margin; pubescence of leaves and stems stellate | |
15 Leaves crenate or serrate, but usually not wavy, pubescence of leaves and stems simple {add to key; verify} | |
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. | |
16 Leaves prominently 3-veined from the base. | |
16 Leaves pinnately veined. | |
26 Petals separate (or absent in Rhamnus alnifolia); stamens opposite to the petals (when present) and alternate to the sepals; fruit 2-4-locular, with 2-4 pyrenes | |
30 Stamens 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; hairs of the lower leaf surface either simple and appressed, or stellate. | |
31 Leaf margins 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 branchlets of the season; corolla of separate petals, the stamens separate; hairs of the lower leaf surface simple and appressed | |
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 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 subtended by bracts, e.g. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or petals separate, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.). | |
2 Basal leaves 2-lobed, pinnately lobed, or palmately lobed (not considering cordate, hastate, or auriculate leaf bases as “lobed”). | |
4 Leaf lobing pinnate. | |
8 Corolla 2-lipped, bilaterally symmetrical or asymmetrical; stamens 2 or 4. | |
4 Leaf lobing palmate. | |
13 Petals 5; stamens 5; fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps. | |
16 Perianth of 5 green sepals and 5 colored petals. | |
18 Leaves 2, the single flower terminal and associated with the upper leaf; fruit an aggregate of berries | |
19 Hypanthium present, partially fused or not fused to the pistil; ovary partially inferior to superior | |
23 Leaf margins entire. | |
24 Inflorescence a terminal and/or axillary raceme, panicle, or cyme of many small flowers; fruit an achene; perianth uniseriate, of 0, 4-5, or 6 tepals. | |
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 sepals and petals (except uniseriate, of 3 fused sepals in ARISTOLOCHIACEAE). | |
26 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical; inflorescence a terminal spike (with > 20 flowers); petals 4, usually scarious, transparent; sepals 4, green; stamens 4 | |
26 Flowers radially symmetrical; inflorescence either of a solitary flower or of a 1-7-flowered terminal cyme; petals 5, 8-12, or 0; sepals 5 (green), 3 (brown), or 5-9 (yellow); stamens 5, 12, or many. | |
27 Gynoecium either of a single pistil with 6 carpels or of a single pistil with 4 carpels or of 2 nearly separate carpels; fruit a simple capsule (or deeply 2-lobed); flowers white, brown, or greenish, either of 5 fused or distinct white petals and 5 fused or distinct green sepals, or of 3 fused brown or greenish petaloid sepals. | |
28 Flowers brown or green, of 3 fused brown or greenish petaloid sepals (and 0 petals); carpels 6; stamens 12; leaves 4-10 cm wide | |
29 Petals fused (at least basally in Dichondra); sepals fused; carpels 2; plant pubescent. | |
32 Flowers typically with 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepals; leaf bases conspicuously oblique (sometimes variegated); fruit unequally or subequally 3-winged capsules; [ornamental waifs or uncommon non-natives] | |
33 Carpels many, separate, spiral; petals yellow or white. | |
34 Flowers lacking a hypanthium; fruit an aggregate of achenes or aggregate of follicles | |
35 Flowers radially symmetrical; inflorescence an umbel (or composite of umbelliform units, or a terminal panicle. | |
37 Inflorescence a terminal raceme; perianth of 4 green sepals and 4 white petals; fruit a silique/silicle; fresh foliage in spring and summer with a strong garlic odor; larger leaves < 10 cm in diameter | |
36 Ovary inferior; inflorescence an umbel (or a composite of umbellate units); fruit a schizocarp of mericarps. | |
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) | |
40 Leaves flat, not sutured into a tubular shape. | |
44 Corolla white, lavender, or blue, 2-lipped and bilaterally symmetrical. | |
41 Stem leaves alternate; perianth radially symmetrical (less commonly bilaterally symmetrical); stamens 5, 6-8, 9, 10 (rarely 4). | |
50 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical (barely so in Limosella in SCROPHULARIACEAE); stamens 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10. | |
50 Corolla radially symmetrical; stamens 5, 10, 4-6, or 9. | |
57 Perianth of green sepals and more brightly colored petals; stamens 5 or 10; carpels 2, 3, 4, or 5. | |
58 Leaves lacking sticky gland-tipped hairs. | |
60 Inflorescence of a solitary, terminal flower; carpels 2-3 (-4). | |
61 Corolla of separate petals or united only for a short length (< ¼ its length). | |
60 Inflorescence of several to many flowers; carpels 5 (3 in Galax in DIAPENSIACEAE). | |
65 Inflorescence a somewhat to very diffuse panicle, with 3 or more orders of branching, not giving at all the impression that the overall inflorescence is made of racemose units. | |
67 Inflorescence of 1-several terminal and axillary racemes, the plant typically well-branched, especially from the base; stamens 5 | |
67 Inflorescence of a single, terminal raceme, the plant unbranched; stamens 10 (or 5, with 5 staminodes) | |
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 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. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.). | |
2 Perianth uniseriate (represented only by undifferentiated tepals or sepals; 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 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 | |
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. | |
8 Flowers typically with 2 or 4 (-5) showy, white-colored tepals; leaves sometimes variegated; fruit unequally or subequally 3-winged capsules; [ornamental waifs or uncommon non-natives] | |
8 Flowers cyathia, not merely bearing showy tepals; leaf not variegated but sometimes bearing darkened red or black splotches; fruit capsules, but these not conspicuously winged; [natives and non-natives, usually not ornamental] | |
7 Leaf bases cordate to rounded. | |
9 Styles 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 bracts subtending the flowers | |
4 Leaf margins entire. | |
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 cuneate, rounded, or truncate; calyx of 3-4-5 distinct sepals, radially symmetrical, white or yellow; fruit a dry, nutlike drupe or an achene. | |
15 Inflorescence a leaf-opposed spike or raceme, the inflorescence arising opposite of stem leaves (except Saururus, whose spikelike racemes are leaf-opposed and/or terminal); flowers visually white from white petaloid sepals, white bracts, or white stamens. | |
16 Sepals absent; carpels 3-4; stamens 2-6 (-8); fruit a capsule, a 1-seeded drupe, or a schizocarp of 3-4 mericarps; leaf bases cordate or subcordate; [Basal Angiosperms]. | |
15 Inflorescence not leaf opposed, instead arising with stem leaves (axillary) or terminal, the inflorescence not spikes nor racemes, instead either simpler (single axillary or glomerules of flowers) or more complexly branched (terminal or axilary panicles or terminal complex cymes); flowers white, reddish, scarious, or greenish. | |
22 Sepals not petaloid, inconspicuous, green or greyish in color; plants prostrate or erect, annual or perennial; leaves alternate OR either alternate or opposite (Amaranthaceae); achenes variously textured (smooth or textured, sometimes reticulate or verrucose, but rarely muricate). | |
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; stamens 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; stamens fewer (usually < 10), monomorphic, if exerted, the ovary usually still apparent; leaves unlobed. | |
31 Petals 4-7; stamens 1× or 2× as many as the petals, 4-7, 8, 10, 12, or14; leaves herbaceous in texture | |
33 Petals connate (at least basally), 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8; carpels 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). | |
34 Stamens 6-10 (-25), more than the number (4 or 5) of petals and the number (4 or 5) of the sepals; fruit a legume or a 1-6-carpellate capsule. | |
34 Stamens 4-5, less than or the same as the number (5) of the petals; fruit a 2-5-carpellate capsule. | |
38 Pistil 5-carpellate; capsule 5-locular, explosively dehiscent; inflorescence of axillary, small clusters of flowers | |
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 Stamens 5; corolla not spurred; capsule septicidal; pubescence of the stem and leaves either gland-tipped or dendritically branched | |
40 Stamens 4; corolla with a distinct spur or sac at the base between the the 2 lower calyx lobes (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. | |
32 Corolla radially symmetrical (actinomorphic), petals connate or distinct; fruit various (including capsules). | |
42 Plants herbaceous vines, fleshy and mucilaginous, the leaves variously orbicular, ovate, cordate or sometimes elliptic; fruit utricles (small sacs surrounding an achene), partly to completely enclosed in the persistent, dry to somewhat fleshy perianth; sepals 2 | |
42 Plants not herbaceous vines, the leaves variously shaped; fruit various, but never utricles; sepals 4 or more. | |
43 Petals distinct (flowers apopetalous); stamens 5-many (4 or 5 in Capraria). | |
44 Pistils 4-10 (each 1-carpellate) in a ring, these sometimes fused basally, each with its own style/stigma; fruit either an aggregate of achenes or follicles or a 5 (-7) locular capsule. | |
46 Fruit an aggregate of follicles; leaves fleshy in texture; inflorescence; leaves entire of sparsely and coarsely serrate, with < 12 points per leaf; [plants primarily of dry habitats] | |
48 Petals 5 (rarely 4 or 6); sepals 5 (rarely 4 or 6); stamens 4, 5 (or multiples of 5), 6, or 12; fruit a capsule or a ring of mericarps. | |
51 Flowers 6-merous (the petals and sepals 6, the stamens 6 or 12); corolla pink or purplish (rarely white); fruit a septicidal capsule | |
51 Flowers 5-merous (the petals and sepals 5, stamens 5 or various multiples of 5); corolla white, yellow, reddish (including pinkish), or blue; fruit a loculicidal or septicidal capsule. | |
52 Stamens 5 ; corolla yellow or blue; capsule either 10-locular and septicidal (Linum) or 1-locular (with 3 carpels) and loculicidal. | |
53 Capsule 1-locular (with 3 carpels) and loculicidal (splitting along outer edges, not only at the top) | |
52 Stamens (4-) 10, 15, 20, 30 (-many); corolla white, pink, yellow, or reddish; capsule 2-, 3-, 5- (-10)-locular, loculicidal. | |
43 Petals fused (flowers sympetalous, this includes salverform and tubular flowers); stamens (4-) 5 (-7). | |
56 Plants herbaceous vines, fleshy and mucilaginous, the leaves variously orbicular, ovate, cordate or sometimes elliptic; fruit utricles (small sacs surrounding an achene), partly to completely enclosed in the persistent, dry to somewhat fleshy perianth; sepals 2 | |
56 Plants not with the above combination of characters, if herbaceous vines then fruit not utricles and sepals 4 or more. | |
57 Pistils 2, united only by the style and stigma; fruit a schizocarp of 2 follicles (often single by abortion); plant with milky juice when fresh; leaves entire; inflorescence an umbel | |
57 Pistil 1 (of 2 or 3 fused carpels); fruit a capsule, drupe, or a schizocarp splitting into 4 nutlets; plant lacking milky juice; leaves entire or serrate; inflorescence various (but not an umbel). | |
58 Ovary slightly to deeply 2-4-lobed (entire or shallowly lobed in Tiquilia and HELIOTROPIACEAE); fruit a schizocarp of 4 mericarps or a drupe; [BORAGINALES]. | |
60 Style gynobasic (originating from the base of the ovary's lobes); ovary slightly to deeply lobed; fruit a schizocarp of 4 mericarps | |
61 Plants usually strongly gray or white-colored and villous, growing in short, suffrutescent mounds or mats; leaves densely pubescent (hairs densely appressed adaxially, tomentose abaxially); inflorescence of solitary flowers or extra-axillary, never scirpioid; corolla lavender or whitish-lavender, the lobes 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] | |
63 Plant an herb, erect or sprawling; leaves > 1.5 cm long. | |
67 Calyces not as above, flowers typically campanulate (not salverform), if tubular then not also 5-ribbed and capitate-glandular. | |
70 Flowers sessile or very-short pedicelled, solitary in the leaf axils. | |
70 Flowers either solitary and obviously pedicelled, or several in an axillary or lateral inflorescence. | |
72 Calyces not as above, flowers typically campanulate (not salverform), if tubular then not also 5-ribbed and capitate-glandular. | |
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 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. Eryngium in APIACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.). | |
6 Ovary inferior; inflorescence an umbel (or flowers solitary or in dichasia in Mentzelia); fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps or a capsule (Mentzelia). | |
6 Ovary superior; inflorescence various, not an umbel; fruit various, a capsule, an aggregate of achenes or follicles, or a ring of (>2) mericarps. | |
9 Perianth biseriate (uniseriate in Aphanes in ROSACEAE and in Trautvetteria in RANUNCULACEAE); flowers bisexual; plants lacking stinging hairs. | |
11 Perianth bilaterally symmetrical, either hooded or spurred; fruit an aggregate of follicles | |
12 Stamens showy, bright white, dilated towards the tip; pistils ca. 15; fruit an aggregate of utricles | |
12 Stamens not showy, white, or dilated towards the tip; pistils many (> 25); fruit an aggregate of achenes. | |
15 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical, the petals connate (except distinct in Delphinium in RANUNCULACEAE); fruit a capsule, a follicle, or a schizocarp of 3 1-seeded mericarps. | |
15 Corolla radially symmetrical, the petals distinct (fused and tubular in Ipomoea); fruit a capsule or a schizocarp consisting of a ring of 5-many 1-seeded mericarps. | |
20 Stamens many, connate into a stamen tube; carpels 5-many, completely or only loosely fused; fruit a capsule or a schizocarp of 5-many mericarps borne in a ring; calyx often subtended by an epicalyx (an additional calyx-like, green, foliaceous whorl of bracts) | |
20 Stamens 5 or 10, distinct; carpels 2 or 5, fused; fruit a capsule or a schizocarp of 5 1-seeded mericarps. | |