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Key G4: shrubs and subshrubs with alternate, simple, unlobed, entire leaves

Plantae

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1 Leaves evergreen.
  2 Leaves 1-7 mm long, either acicular and spreading or ovate and appressed to the stems
  2 Leaves > 10 mm long.
    3 Leaves linear, > 15× as long as wide, usually sharply pointed at the apices (Ilex can have pointed apices, but leaves are not linear and marginal teeth often also present); [Monocots]
    3 Leaves broader, < 15× as long as wide, leaf apices variously shaped, if pointed usually not conspicuously sharpened; [Eudicots, Basal Angiosperms, or Monocots].
      4 Plant a creeping subshrub, < 1 dm tall
      4 Plant not creeping, > 3 dm tall (mature plants).
        5 Inflorescence an involucrate head or a raceme or a panicle consisting of spherical heads (Conocarpus in COMBRETACEAE).
          6 Inflorescence an involucrate head, the heads consisting of a receptacle bearing few-many cypselae; plants of various habitats, but not forming dense stands of shrubs in coastal habitats
          6 Inflorescence a raceme or panicle consisting of spherical heads, the fruit densely clustered in conelike heads but not cypselae; leaf abaxial surfaces with conspicuous pit domatia at the junction of midvein and secondary veins; plants salt-adapted shrubs of coastal habitats
        5 Inflorescence not an involucrate head, instead either solitary (Illicium in ILLICIACEAE) or variously branched, spicate, racemose, umbellate, or fascicled.
             7 Flowers with a 5-lobed, fan-shaped corolla opposing a conspicuously protruding and incurved style
             7 Flowers various, but not as above.
               8 Leaves alternate, but usually clustered densely towards branch tips; leaves narrowly oblanceolate, 1-4 cm long; flowers yellow, 5-merous, the petals diminuitive (ca. 4 mm) and clawed basally (the petals often falling off by midday); [of coastal beaches, dunes, and hammocks; FL peninsula]
               8 Plants not with the above combination of traits: leaves longer and variously shaped (if narrowly oblanceolate, leaves much longer than 40 cm long) usually well-spaced throughout the stems (if clustered, then other characters lacking); [plants widely distributed in a variety of habitats].
                 9 Carpels separate; fruit an aggregate; fresh foliage strongly fragrant; [Basal Angiosperms].
                   10 Fruit an aggregate of red to blackish berries, 4-6 mm long, each on a long stipe, giving the aggregate almost the appearance of an umbel
                 9 Carpels fused; fruit a berry, drupe, acorn (nut), capsule, or legume; fresh foliage not strongly fragrant; [Eudicots, Monocots, and Basal Angiosperms].
                     11 Ovary with 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 carpels; fruit a berry, drupe, capsule, legume, or nut; leaves actually leaves; [Eudicots and Basal Angiosperms].
                       12 Leaves largely covered with silver and/or bronze lepidote scales and/or dense stellate hairs below (visible at 10× or higher magnification), giving the lower leaf surface a slightly shiny to almost metallic appearance.
                          13 Petals present, conspicuous, connate, white, the corolla rotate; fruit a berry with several seeds; fresh foliage with a strong, tar-like odor
                          13 Petals absent or inconspicuous, greenish and separate if present (note that the calyx is petaloid and white or yellowish in Elaeagnus of ELAEAGNACEAE); fruit a dry capsule with 3 seeds, or a drupe with a single seed; fresh foliage lacking a strong odor.
                            14 Perianth 4-merous; petals absent; petaloid sepals white to cream, fused and salverform; carpel 1; fruit a fleshy, red drupe, with a single seed
                            14 Perianth 5-merous; petals green and separate, or absent; sepals greenish, separate; carpels 3; fruit a 3-valved capsule with 3 seeds
                       12 Leaves with various vestiture (or glabrous), but not as above.
                              15 Flowers arranged in axillary spikes, umbels of shortened spikes, or sometimes the flowers solitary and leaf-opposing; fruit a drupe or drupe-like.
                                16 Flowers in spikes, axillary umbels (of shortened spikes), or the flowers solitary and leaf-opposing; leaves spaced, the bases oblique; stipules apparent, and clasping the stem; fruit rarely 3-angled (P. auritum), but not ridged; plants unarmed, the stems swollen at the nodes; branches somewhat zig-zagged, not arranged in conspicuous tiers
                                16 Flowers arranged in axillary spikes only; the fruit usually somewhat ridged; leaves clustered at branch tips (except T. arjuna), the bases typically cuneate; stipules reduced to glandular hairs at petiole base; plants armed or unarmed, the stem nodes not conspicuously swollen; branches arranged in tiers, the main branches erect, the lateral spreading horizontally
                              15 Flowers in other types of inflorescences, not spikes, if the inflorescence axillary only, then consisting of panicles or racemes (Cestrum) or subsessile to sessile fascicles (Myrsine and SAPOTACEAE); fruit various (acorns, berries, drupes, capsules, legumes).
                                  17 Leaves 1-foliolate on the upper stems, sometimes 3-foliolate below, or all reduced to phyllodial spines; flowers papilionaceous, bright yellow; fruit a legume; stems bright green
                                  17 Leaves simple throughout; flowers variously shaped but not papilionaceous; fruit not a legume, instead acorns, berries, capsules, or drupes.
                                    18 Flowers apetalous; arranged in catkins (Quercus in FAGACEAE; Morella inodora in MYRICACEAE) OR thyrses (Dodonaea in SAPINDACEAE).
                                       19 Flowers tannish, borne in catkins (these drooping at maturity); fruit a nut in a cupule (acorn)
                                       19 Flowers greenish-red or yellowish-green, borne in thyrses or if in catkins (Morella), these erect and globose in shape; fruit a winged, bladder-like capsule (Dodonaea) or globose, drupe-like, and covered in small, warty protuberances (Morella).
                                         20 Fruit a bladder-like, winged capsule (usually weakly 3-locular), brownish-red or brown when ripened; [peninsular FL from St. Johns County southward]
                                         20 Fruit globose, drupe-like, and covered in small, warty protuberances, blueish purple to black when ripened; [Gulf Coastal Plain from FL Panhandle and sc. GA, w. to e. LA]
                                    18 Flowers not apetalous, with a well-developed corolla, variously colored (white, cream, pink, greenish or reddish-orange), either urceolate OR tubular and with separate and spreading petals (rarely the perianth only consisting of green sepals), arranged in various terminal or axillary inflorescences, or sometimes solitary; fruit either a (3-) 5-valved capsule, or a spherical berry with (1-) 10+ seeds, OR a 1-8 seeded dry or fleshy drupe.
                                           21 Flowers white to pink or reddish-orange, rotate, tubular, or urceolate (the petals also sometimes spreading apically, but united at least basally), in various terminal or axillary inflorescences or solitary; fruit either a 2-5 valved capsule (conspicuously linear-cylindric in CAPPARACEAE), a spherical berry with 10+ seeds OR a drupe bearing 4 bony nutlets (Bourreria).
                                             22 Flowers white, greenish-white, yellow, or pink; corollas without obvious tufts of hair opposite each anther.
                                               23 Fruit a fleshy berry; inflorescences of axillary fascicles (SAPOTACEAE), axillary and paniculate (Cestrum) or in Solanum, leaf-opposed and variously arranged (terminal, axillary, and extra-axillary).
                                                 24 Plants with milky sap (exuded from petioles when removed from stems); sepals rusty-tomentose; [c. and s. FL only in our area].
                                                    25 Fruit a smaller, glabrous berry (< 1 cm in diameter), green, purple, or black, glabrous, not roughened; petioles not with a decurrent adaxial wing forming a groove
                                                    25 Fruit a large, globose berry (2-8 cm in diameter), pale brown in color when mature, the surface roughened in texture; petioles with a decurrent, adaxial wing forming a groove
                                                      26 Leaves 1 per node; inflorescences axillary and paniculate (sometimes with terminal flower clusters present), never leaf opposed (although often bracteate); flowers tubular, the end of the tube often surrounding the anthers
                                                      26 Leaves 1 per node or also paired (on one side of the stem) at some nodes (the leaves then uneven in size); inflorescences leaf-opposed; flowers campanulate, lacking a tubular corolla
                                               23 Fruit not a fleshy berry, instead a valved capsule or a drupe bearing 4 bony nutlets (Bourreria); inflorescences terminal or axillary (or occasionally flowers solitary), never leaf-opposed.
                                                        27 Capsules pendulous and conspicuously elongate-cylindric, borne on a slender gynophore (a specialized stipe bearing the gynoecium); seeds white, grey, tan, or brownish in color and usually contrasting with the bright red interior of the capsules; plants shrubs or sometimes loosely scrambling over other plants; stamens usually much longer than the petals and conspicuously exerted from the flowers
                                                        27 Capsules (or drupes) erect, not linear nor long-cylindric, not borne on a gynophore; seeds variously colored, and sometimes surrounded by a fleshy aril (but the entire capsule interior not bright red); plants shrubs; stamens shorter than or only minimally longer than the corolla (not long exerted)
                                                          28 Seeds with fleshy aril or attachment (or if not fleshy, the seeds nutlets with abaxial ridges, as in Bourreria); ovaries 2-4 carpellate; flowers rotate; leaves entire or very remotely serrulate.
                                                            29 Fruit a capsule (the seeds with fleshy arils or attachments); flowers rotate, but not salverform (the corolla tube not lengthened), arranged solitary, few, or in cymes, terminal or axillary, the corolla lobes usually deltoid or somewhat triangular in shape; leaves glabrous or sometimes puberulent (Pittosporum), but the pubescence not rough.
                                                              30 Flowers few, not showy, green to greenish-white, inflorescence not densely arranged (flowers also sometimes solitary); capsules not beaked; leaves not revolute or undulate
                                           21 Flowers white, rotate, the petals spreading, distinct (i.e., separate to the base; nearly so in Myrsine), not tubular; arranged in axillary fascicles or racemes or in subsessile to sessile axillary fascicles (Myrsine); fruit either a fleshy drupe with 4-8 pyrenes, or a dry to leathery single-seeded drupe.
                                                                 31 Plants never producing pneumatophores; leaf blades variously pubescent or glandular, but lacking conspcuous marginal or apical pit-domatia; [collectively widespread natives]
                                                                       34 Inflorescence of sessile or subsessile fascicles, the flowers 5-merous, greenish-white (often with pink streaks or dots) and with obvious staminodes; fruit a 1-seeded fleshy to leathery drupe
1 Leaves deciduous.
                                                                         35 Inflorescence an involucrate head
                                                                                  39 Fruit a globose, spinose capsule bearing a longitudinal ridge across 1 or both faces, thus essentially resembling a spikey ball; perianth (4-)5-merous, consisting of 3 upper connate petaloid claws and two lower sessile petals; fresh plants without a strange musky odor; [Eudicots]
                                                                                      41 Leaves elliptic or narrowly elliptic, broadest near the middle; fresh plants strongly fragrant with a citrus-like aroma; stems unarmed; fruit a drupe, with a single seed
                                                                                        42 Fruit either a drupe or berry (indehiscent, and variously fleshy or dry) or a dry 3-valved capsule with 1 seed; inflorescence axillary (solitary, clusters, fascicles, or racemes), or in a terminal raceme (Pyrularia in SANTALACEAE).

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.
  2 Leaves 1.5-3 cm wide, coarsely toothed; flowers lacking sepals and petals; [exotic species, sparingly naturalized or spreading in suburban situations]
  2 Leaves < 1.5 cm wide, finely toothed or entire; flowers with sepals and petals; [native species, collectively widespread and common].
    3 Leaves fleshy, terete in ×-section; petals 5, bright pink
    3 Leaves flat, not fleshy; petals white or pale pink.
      4 Leaves < 2.5 mm wide; corolla with petals distinct; plant creeping
      4 Leaves > 5 mm wide; corolla with petals fused (distinct in Chimaphila); plant creeping or erect
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.
          6 Leaves evergreen.
             7 Leaves glandular-punctate on one or both surfaces with golden-yellow glands; flowers unisexual, lacking a perianth (arranged in axillary catkins); fruit a pale gray, waxy drupe with a single seed
             7 Leaves not glandular punctate; flowers bisexual or unisexual, with a white, pink, or yellow perianth; fruit various: a red, blue, or black drupe, a berry with several seeds, or a capsule.
               8 Petals connate, flowers urceolate (ERICACEAE) or rotate, white to pale pink; flowers bisexual; fruit a drupe (Ehretia in EHRETIACEAE), OR a capsule or berry (ERICACEAE)
                 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)
                 9 Flowers urceolate, fragrant or not, the petals white to pale pink, variously arranged in terminal or axillary inflorescences (occasionally solitary in axils); fruit either a capsule or a red, blue, or black berry
               8 Petals distinct, yellow or white; flowers unisexual or bisexual; fruit either a black or red drupe with several pyrenes, a red berry with several seeds, or red or black pomes.
                   10 Plants with nodal, simple or tripartite thorns; flowers bisexual, with a yellow perianth; fruit a red berry with several seeds
                   10 Plants lacking thorns; flowers unisexual or bisexual, with a white perianth (yellow or red in Ochna); fruit either a black or red drupe with several pyrenes or a red or black pome.
                     11 Petals yellow, clawed; sepals red and forming a persistent red receptacle (torus) bearing numerous blackened drupes.
                     11 Petals white, not clawed; sepals not bright red nor persistent, the fruit a drupe or pome.
                       12 Flowers unisexual; fruit a black or red drupe with several pyrenes
                          13 Plants lacking thorns; leaf teeth acute, blunt, rounded, or callus-tipped, but not spinulose.
                              15 Leaves crenate or serrate, but usually not wavy, pubescence of leaves and stems simple
                            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.
                                  17 Ovary 5-locular; stamens many or 5, fused or separate; fruit a 5-valved capsule or of 5 mericarps; flowers yellow or pink, or white with a pink blaze
                                  17 Ovary 3-locular; stamens 5, separate; fruit a 3-valved capsule or drupe; flowers white or pale green
                                    18 Flowers in catkins; perianth absent or very small; fruit a 1-seeded nut, samara, or waxy drupe (capsule in Salix in SALICACEAE).
                                       19 Leaves < 3 cm wide, either punctate-glandular on one or both surfaces or lacking punctate glands; fruit a 1-seeded waxy drupe or a capsule.
                                    18 Flowers arrayed variously, but not in catkins; perianth present, conspicuous; fruit a 1-many-seeded capsule, pome, berry, or follicle.
                                                      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 5; ovary and capsule 2-locular; leaves elliptic (widest near the middle), the teeth fine (usually > 5 points per cm of margin), and along much of the margin; inflorescence a terminal raceme; hairs of the lower leaf surface simple, erect
                                                              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
                                                                 31 Leaf margins wavy or irregularly dentate, mainly in the upper half of the leaf; inflorescence a few flowered (<20) axillary raceme, cyme, or cluster; corolla fused basally into a tube, the stamens adnate to the tube; hairs of the lower leaf surface stellate

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).
                              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 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 N1: herbaceous dicots with mainly basal, compound leaves

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1 Leaves either 2-3-foliolate or palmately 4-11-foliolate (all the leaflets attached at a common point).
  2 Leaves 2-foliolate; fruit a capsule, opening by a circumscissile lid
  2 Leaves either 3-foliolate or palmately or pedately 4-11-foliolate.
    3 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
    3 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above.
      4 Inflorescence various, usually not an umbel (sometimes an umbel in Oxalis in OXALIDACEAE); ovary superior; fruit an aggregate, legume, berry, or 2-valved capsule.
        5 Leaflets either entire or barely and very shallowly crenulate or notched at the tip (but otherwise entire).
          6 Inflorescence a spadix, surrounded by a spathe; fruit a berry; [Monocots {illogically keyed here because of the likelihood of being mistaken for a dicot}]
          6 Inflorescence a raceme or umbel, not surrounded by a spathe; fruit a capsule or legume; [Eudicots].
             7 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical; fruit a legume; [plant of uplands]
             7 Flowers radially symmetrical; fruit a 2-valved or 5-valved capsule; [plant of uplands or wetlands]
               8 Leaflets not notched at the tip; flowers white; [plants of saturated saturated or ponded wetlands]
               8 Leaflets notched at the tip; flowers pink, white, or yellow; [plants of uplands or temporarily flooded wetlands]
                 9 Petals 5 or more; stamens 10 or more; fruit either a legume or an aggregate of achenes or follicles
                   10 Stamens many, fused into a staminal tube; carpels 10-20, in a ring; pubescence stellate (sometimes mixed with simple hairs)
                   10 Stamens 10-many, separate, or fused but not all into a staminal tube; carpel either 1 (FABACEAE), or 3-7 in a ring (RANUNCULACEAE), or many and spirally arranged on a conical receptacle (RANUNCULACEAE or ROSACEAE)
                     11 Leaflets serrulate; flowers bilaterally symmetrical; fruit a legume; corolla variously colored, including white
                     11 Leaflets serrate; flowers radially symmetrical; fruit an aggregate of achenes or of follicles; corolla white or yellowish or greenish.
                       12 Fruit an aggregate of achenes (borne on a fleshy, expanded receptacle in Fragaria and some Potentilla)
1 Leaves 1-pinnately compound (all leaflets attached to a central rachis) or more complexly compound (with several orders of branching, some leaflets at least attached to second-order branches from the rachis).
                              15 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
                              15 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above.
                            14 Leaves more complexly compound (with 2 or more orders of branching, some leaflets at least attached to second-order branches from the rachis).
                                       19 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
                                       19 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above (sometimes the flowers in a head subtended by bracts, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or petals separate, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.).
                                             22 Carpels 5-10 or many, separate; fruit an aggregate; flower radially symmetrical
                                                    25 Leaflets with < 10 ultimate ‘points’ (lobe or tooth terminations), these rounded to broadly acute, often large in comparison to the leaflet and appearing as “sublobes”; pistil 1 or 4-many.
                                                      26 Corolla radially symmetrical; fruit an aggregate of follicles or achenes, or a naked seed resembling a drupe; [native plants of moist to dry forests and rock outcrops].
                                                        27 Leaflets 1-6 cm long, about as long as broad if > 4 cm long; pistils 4-many; fruit an aggregate of follicles or achenes; flowers mainly 4-5-merous
                                                          28 Pubescence of the stem and lower leaf surface non-glandular (or absent); flowers either bisexual (the plants hermaphroditic), or unisexual and the male and female flowers on separate plants (the plants dioecious); stamens 15 or more; pistils 1-8, separate; fruit an aggregate of follicles, a follicle, or a red or white berry.

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”).
    3 Basal leaves 2-lobed, hinged between the lobes, each lobe with stiff, marginal, eyelash-like bristles; [Coastal Plain of NC and SC, rarely planted and weakly naturalized elsewhere]
    3 Basal leaves 3-many-lobed, palmately or pinnately; [collectively widespread].
      4 Leaf lobing pinnate.
        5 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate
        5 Gynoecium of a single pistil (with 2, rarely more, carpels); fruit simple.
          6 Stamens many; sepals 2, petals 4; fresh plants with yellow, orange, or white milky juice
          6 Stamens 4, 5, or 6; sepals 4 or 5; petals 4 or 5.
               8 Corolla 2-lipped, bilaterally symmetrical or asymmetrical; stamens 2 or 4.
                 9 Corolla lobes not twisted, the flower bilaterally symmetrical; stamens 2
                 9 Corolla lobes twisted so as to make the flower asymmetrical; stamens 4
      4 Leaf lobing palmate.
                              15 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate.
                                    18 Leaves 2, the single flower terminal and associated with the upper leaf; fruit an aggregate of berries
                                    18 Leaves normally > 2, flowers not as above; fruit an aggregate of achenes, utricles, or follicles
  2 Basal leaves not lobed, at most serrate or crenate (and sometimes also cordate, hastate, auriculate, or peltate at the base).
                                                 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 of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate of achenes or follicles; flowers bright yellow, either of 5-9 distinct petaloid sepals, or of 8-12 distinct petals subtended by 3-4 green distinct sepals
                                                        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.
                                                              30 Fruit a deeply 2-lobed capsule; sepals longer or ca. as long as petals; petals not undulate, fused at their bases or distal ½, the anthers maroon or brown-colored; [common, widespread in our area]
                                                                 31 Gynoecium of separate pistils (each with a single carpel); fruit an aggregate; perianth of 5 green sepals and 5 colored petals (or of 2 or 4 (-5) white-colored tepals in Begonia).
                                                                   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]
                                                                   32 Flowers with 5 green sepals and 5 colored petals (not merged into tepals); leaf bases oblique or not; fruit various but not 3-winged capsules; [natives and non-natives].
                                                                              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
                                                                                    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)
                                                                                      41 Stem leaves opposite; perianth 5-merous, at least the corolla bilaterally symmetrical (barely so in VALERIANACEAE), or the parts curved so as to be asymmetrical (Pedicularis in OROBANCHACEAE); stamens 2, 3, or 4.
                                                                                           43 Corolla distinctly 2-lipped (with prominently large upper and lower corolla lobes) or hooded (the upper lip hood-like), distinctly bilaterally symmetrical, or the lobes twisted so as to make the corolla asymmetrical.

Key O: herbaceous dicots with alternate, compound leaves on the stem

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1 Leaves either 3-foliolate or palmately 4-11-foliolate (all the leaflets attached at a common point, or the leaflets slightly pedate in Helleborus foetidus in RANUNCULACEAE).
  2 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
  2 Inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above.
    3 Leaflets obviously and sharply serrate; pistils 1 or 5-many; fruit an achene, or an aggregate of achenes, drupelets, or follicles.
      4 Leaflets 7-11, slightly pedate in their arrangement, evergreen
        5 Pistils 5-many; fruit an aggregate of achenes, drupelets, or follicles
    3 Leaflets entire, finely denticulate, or very obscurely toothed (or irregularly serrate or lobed in Cardamine in BRASSICACEAE); pistil 1; fruit simple, a legume, capsule, silique, or berry.
          6 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical; petals 5; fruit a legume; carpel 1
          6 Corolla radially symmetrical; petals 4 or 5; fruit either an elongate capsule or a berry; carpels 1, 2, or 5.
             7 Leaflets radially arranged at the summit of the petiole, not differentiated in size or placement into a terminal leaflet and 2 lateral leaflets; leaflets prominently notched at the apex; petals 5, yellow; inflorescence axillary, cymose or umbelliform; carpels 5
             7 Leaflets differentiated in size and placement into a terminal leaflet and 2 or more lateral leaflets; leaflets not regularly notched at the apex (a few may be slightly retuse); petals 4, white, pink, or yellow; inflorescence terminal and racemose; carpels 1 or 2.
               8 Carpel 1; fruit a capsule; petals separate, white, pink, or yellow.
                 9 Stem leaves 1-3, alternate [or whorled or opposite]; leaflets 3, irregularly serrate, lacerate, or additionally divided or lobed; fruit a silique; carpels 2
                 9 Stem leaves >3, alternate; leaflets (1-) 3-7, each entire or obscurely toothed; fruit a capsule; carpel 1
1 Leaves either 1-pinnately compound (all leaflets attached to a central rachis) or more complexly compound (with several orders of branching, some leaflets at least attached to second-order branches from the rachis).
                   10 Inflorescence an involucrate head subtended by phyllaries, heads solitary or many, variously arrayed in secondary inflorescences; fruit a cypsela; ovary inferior
                   10 Inflorescence various, but not as above; fruit various, not as above; ovary superior.
                       12 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical, papilionaceous; fruit a legume; leaves even-pinnately or odd-pinnately compound, the terminal leaflet sometimes replaced by a tendril; leaflets entire or at most minutely denticulate
                       12 Flowers radially symmetrical (or barely bilaterally symmetrical in Erodium in GERANIACEAE); fruit a capsule, capsular but of 5 mericarps, or an aggregate of achenes, nutlets, or follicles (in some cases the # of pistils from many down to 2 or even 1); leaves odd-pinnately compound, never with tendrils; leaflets serrate (or entire to shallowly lobed in Polemonium in POLEMONIACEAE, Cardamine in BRASSICACEAE, and Floerkea in LIMNANTHACEAE).
                          13 Pistils many (only 1-2 in Agrimonia, Poteridium, Poterium, and Sanguisorba); fruit an aggregate of achenes, nutlets, or follicles; hypanthium present; stamens 5-many (only 4 in Poteridium and Sanguisorba)
                          13 Pistil 1 (or deeply 2-3-lobed in Floerkea in LIMNANTHACEAE); fruit a silique, capsule, schizocarp of 2-3 mericarps, or a capsular schizocarp of 5 mericarps (Erodium in GERANIACEAE); hypanthium absent; stamens 3-6.
                              15 Petals 5, fused (distinct in Erodium in GERANIACEAE); stamens 5; inflorescence axillary or terminal, cymose, consisting of subcapitate, umbel-like, or helicoid cymes; fruit either a capsule, or a capsular schizocarp of 5 mericarps (Erodium in GERANIACEAE).
                                16 Flowers slightly bilaterally symmetrical (2 of the petals of different size than the other 3); fruit a capsular schizocarp of 5 mericarps; carpels 5
                     11 Leaves more complexly compound (with 2 or more orders of branching, some leaflets at least attached to second-order branches from the rachis).
                                           21 Inflorescence either a terminal solitary flower or terminal raceme or panicle; ovary superior, either of 2 fused carpels or of 1-5or many distinct 1-carpellate pistils; fruit either a capsule or an aggregate of follicles or achenes.
                                                 24 Leaflets sharply serrate, with usually many teeth on each leaflet side, the total number of “points” per leaflet > 10.
                                                 24 Leaflets entire, or with 1-several, broad, obtuse, rounded, or broadly acute “sublobes”, especially towards the tip of the leaflet, the total number of “points” per leaflet < 10.
                                                            29 Perianth of 4-5 whorls of 3 parts each (some of the whorls modified into nectaries); pistil 1, 1-carpellate; fruit a drupelike, blue, naked seed; largest leaflets > 6 cm long, obviously longer than wide
                                                            29 Perianth of 1 whorl; of 4-5 parts; pistils many, each 1-carpellate; fruit an aggregate of achenes or an aggregate of follicles; largest leaflets either < 6 cm long, or if longer than 6 cm, also about as wide as long

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.
        5 Leaf teeth rounded to subacute, resembling shallow lobes, irregular, few (mostly < 6 per leaf side).
          6 Fruit a single-seeded achene or utricle; [plants of various disturbed or saline, usually sunny habitats]
          6 Fruit a 3-lobed, circumscissilely dehiscent capsule; [plants native of rich moist shaded forests or exotics in suburban woodlands]
        5 Leaf teeth sharp to crenate, not lobe-like, regular, many (mostly > 10 per leaf side).
             7 Leaf bases cuneate (or strongly oblique in Begonia, with one leaf base usually being cuneate, the other variously rounded or cordate).
               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]
                 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
                 9 Styles 1 or 2; fruit either an achene or a multiple of achenes; inflorescence either an axillary dense cyme (almost a head), or an axillary spike with glomerules, or a terminal or axillary panicle.
                   10 Styles 2; inflorescence a dense axillary cyme (almost a head); fruit a multiple of achenes; plant lacking stinging hairs; [exotic plant of weedy situations]
                   10 Style 1; inflorescence an axillary spikes with glomerules, or a terminal or axillary panicle; plant either with stinging hairs or not; [plant a rare exotic (Boehmeria nivea) or a native of moist forests (Boehmeria cylindrica, Laportea)]
                     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 cordate; calyx 3-lobed, fused into a bilaterally symmetrical, curved brown or yellowish tube; fruit a capsule
                       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.
                          13 Leaves subsessile or very short petiolate, elliptic or narrowly elliptic, broadest near the middle; [native]
                          13 Leaves distinctly petiolate, rhombic, widest near the base; [rarely naturalized exotics].
                              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 present, 4 or 5; petaloid, white; carpels 1 to many (-12); stamens 4 to many (-25); fruit a berry or an apically 2-lobed achene (as in Petiveria); leaf bases cuneate or rounded (but not cordate); [Eudicots].
                              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 petaloid, pink and relatively conspicuous (although the sepals ca. 1-3 mm in length); plants prostrate to somewhat ascending annuals; leaves opposite or nearly whorled; achenes muricate
                                             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).
  2 Perianth biseriate (represented by differentiated whorls of sepals and petals, the sepals usually green or drab in color, the petals often brightly colored); flowers nearly always bisexual (there are exceptions).
                                                        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.
                                                                   32 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical (zygomorphic), petals connate, at least basally (except distinct in VIOLACEAE); fruit a capsule or legume (the capsule conspicuously spiny in Krameria).
                                                                     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).
                                                                                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 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.
                                                                                             44 Pistil 1, with 1-to many carpels (in many MALVACEAE, the carpels loosely united in a ring [of more than 5] around the single style/stigma); fruit either a 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 6-, or 10-locular capsule, or a silique/silicle, or a ring of 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]

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.).
  2 Plant an herb, sometimes sprawling, reclining (e.g. Cymbalaria in PLANTAGINACEAE, Aconitum in RANUNCULACEAE), but lacking climbing adaptations such as tendrils or twining stems.
          6 Ovary inferior; inflorescence an umbel (or flowers solitary or in dichasia in Mentzelia); fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps or a capsule (Mentzelia).
             7 Flowers solitary or in dichasia; fruit capsules dehiscing via apical valves
          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 uniseriate, the corolla absent (the calyx petaloid and white in Cnidoscolus); flowers unisexual; plants either with stinging hairs or not
                 9 Perianth biseriate (uniseriate in Aphanes in ROSACEAE and in Trautvetteria in RANUNCULACEAE); flowers bisexual; plants lacking stinging hairs.
                   10 Pistils many (or 2-3 in Aphanes in ROSACEAE), each with 1 carpel, arranged spirally or in a ring (if in a ring, of 2-5); fruit an aggregate of achenes, follicles, or utricles.
                     11 Perianth bilaterally symmetrical, either hooded or spurred; fruit an aggregate of follicles
                     11 Perianth radially symmetrical, not hooded or spurred; fruit an aggregate of utricles or achenes (plumose achenes in Geum)
                       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.
                   10 Pistil 1, with 1-to many carpels (in many MALVACEAE, the carpels loosely united in a ring of more than 5 around the style); fruit a capsule, an achene, a follicle, or a ring of 3 or 5-many 1-seeded mericarps.
                              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)

Key P3: herbaceous dicots with alternate, simple, and pinnately 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, or the fruit a cypsela in Cevallia in LOASACEAE, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.).
  2 Perianth uniseriate, with only undifferentiated tepals; flowers many and small, greenish or brownish, inconspicuous individually; inflorescence of glomerules that are usually further aggregated into racemes or panicles; fruit an achene or utricle
  2 Perianth biseriate, both sepals and petals present and differentiated (except uniseriate and of 2 white to cream-colored sepals 5-10 mm long in Macleaya in PAPAVERACEAE); flowers larger, usually with the petals prominently colored; inflorescence various, but not as above; fruit a capsule, silique/silicle, or a schizocarp of 2 mericarps.
    3 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical and the petals connate into a tube (or the corolla 2-lipped but the corolla lobes twisted so as to make the flower asymmetrical); stamens 4; fruit a 2-locular and loculicidal capsule opening by 2 valves
    3 Corolla radially symmetrical and either connate into a tube or distinct (except Reseda in RESEDACEAE, with bilateral symmetry but separate petals); stamens 5 or more; fruit a silique/silicle, a schizocarp of 4 mericarps, or a 1-, 3-, or 4-locular capsule (2-locular in Ipomoea in CONVOLVULACEAE and Glaucium in PAPAVERACEAE), opening variously.
      4 Ovary inferior; fruit either a schizocarp of 2 mericarps (Eryngium), a 4-loculicidal (Oenothera) or apically dehiscent (Mentzelia) capsule with a persistent perianth (Mentzelia), or a cypsela (Cevallia).
        5 Flowers 5-merous (sometimes superficially 10+ in Mentzelia, the numerous "petals" actually a combination of 5+ petaloid stamen filaments and 5 petals).
          6 Flowers aggregated into a head; fruit a schizocarp of 2 mericarps
          6 Flowers solitary or in dichasia (Mentzelia) or if headlike, then plants with abundant trichomes, flowers yellow and fruit a cypsela with a persistent perianth (Cevallia); [LOASACEAE]
             7 Stamens 5; fruits indehiscent (a cypsela with a persistent perianth), bearing one seed each; plants with four trichome types (knobbed, retrorse, dendritic, and stinging), these sometimes but not always all present on the same plant.
             7 Stamens numerous (8-50+), often strongly exerted; petals 5 (sometimes superficially appearing to have ca. 10+ due to the presence of 5+ petaloid stamen filaments and 5 petals), fruits dehiscent (capsules with apical dehiscence); plants with two types of trichomes (antrorse/smooth or retrorse)
      4 Ovary superior; fruit either a silique/silicle, or a 1-, 2-, or 3-locular capsule, or a berry.
               8 Sepals and petals of different numbers, the sepals 2-3, the petals 0, 4, or 6; stamens many
               8 Sepals and petals the same number, 4-8 each; stamens 5 or 6 (10-25 in Reseda in RESEDACEAE).
                 9 Corolla bilaterally symmetrical; stamens 10-25
                 9 Corolla radially symmetrical; stamens 5 or 6.
                       12 Corolla with a long tube, much longer than the lobes, scarlet, white, pink, or blue; leaves shallowly to deeply pinnately parted into 3-many lobes
                       12 Corolla with a short tube, the lobes longer than the tube, purplish; leaves with a single large terminal l lobe, and 2 small basal lobes (these almost separate as leaflets)
                          13 Fruit a capsule, 1-locular; corolla white, pink, lavender, or blue, the tube short (< 4 mm long), the lobes flaring, the corolla < 15 mm long or wide
                          13 Fruit either a capsule, 2- or-3 locular, or a berry; corolla scarlet, blue, white, yellow, greenish-yellow, or purple, the tube long (>10 mm long) and cylindrical, the corolla > 10 mm long or wide.
                            14 Stigmas 3; fruit a capsule with 3 valves; leaf lobes 0.5-5 mm wide, often themselves lobed, the sinuses very deep, often nearly to the leaf midvein
                            14 Stigmas 2; fruit either a capsule with 2 valves or a berry; leaf lobes > 5 mm wide, not lobed themselves, the sinuses shallow, often < 1/2 way to the midvein

Key Q: herbaceous dicots with whorled leaves on the stem {add [Platycodon] CAMPANULACEAE}

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  2 Cauline leaves essentially sessile, and also palmately cleft to the base, and further lacerately divided into linear or oblanceolate segments
  2 Cauline leaves petiolate, with 3-5, sessile or petiolulate, ovate, elliptic, or obovate leaflets (these serrate and sometimes with additional lobes).
    3 Inflorescence a spherical umbel of many flowers; fruit a drupe with 2-3 seeds; stem leaves 3-5
      4 Leaflets 3 (-5), sessile or subsessile, the petiolules 0-3 mm long; larger leaflets 4-8 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, averaging about 2.5× as long as wide, the apex obtuse to acute; fruit yellow-green when ripe, longitudinally winged and ribbed in ×-section; petals white (rarely tinged with pink); inflorescence nodding in bud; underground storage organ a spherical tuber
      4 Leaflets (3-) 5, petiolulate, the petiolules (7-) 10-25 mm long; larger leaflets 6-15 cm long, 3.5-7 cm wide, averaging about 1.8× as long as wide, the apex acuminate; fruit bright red when ripe, smoothly elliptical in ×-section; petals light green; inflorescence erect in bud; underground storage organ an +/- elongate root, this vertical or horizontal, and sometimes branched
    3 Inflorescence of single terminal flowers on the 1-several branches; fruit an aggregate of achenes; stem leaves 3
1 Cauline leaves simple.
        5 Inflorescence an involucrate head subtended by phyllaries, heads solitary or many, variously arrayed in secondary inflorescences; fruit a cypsela
        5 Inflorescence various, but not as above; fruit various, not as above (sometimes the flowers tightly grouped, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.).
          6 Fruit a 3-lobed, 3-locular capsule; 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
          6 Fruit various, not as above; inflorescence not a cyathium (and staminate or bisexual flowers almost always with > 1 stamen); fresh plants lacking milky juice.
             7 Leaves succulent, the terminal whorls closely juxtaposed; pistils 4-5; fruit an aggregate of follicles
             7 Leaves herbaceous, thin in texture, whorls separated; pistil 1, of 2-5 fused carpels; fruit a capsule, achene, or drupe.
               8 Larger whorled leaves on a plant < 10 mm wide [some taxa keyed here and under the second lead].
                   10 Leaves markedly variable in shape or size in each whorl; fruit a capsule; petals 5
                   10 Leaves similar in size and shape in each whorl; fruit dry or fleshy, indehiscent; petals (3-) 4
                     11 Corolla radially symmetrical, the petals separate; carpels 2, 3, or 5; stamens 5, 10, or many.
                          13 Inflorescence an axillary umbel; leaves narrowly linear and more than 10× as long as wide, > 20 mm long and < 2 mm wide; whorls of 3-6 leaves
                          13 Inflorescence a terminal cyme, raceme, panicle, or umbel; leaves as above, or broader in shape, narrower, or shorter; whorls of 3-16 leaves.
               8 Larger whorled leaves on a plant > 10 mm wide.
                                    18 Inflorescence various, but not as above; perianth of 2 whorls (the calyx often obsolete in Galium in RUBIACEAE), 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-merous; stamens 2-7; [plants of dry-mesic to very wet habitats].
                                           21 Corolla pink-purple, 6-merous, the petals separate and borne on the edge of a hypanthium; stamens 8, 10, or 12; [plants of wetlands]
                                           21 Corolla white, yellow, or greenish, 4-, 5-, or 7-merous, the petals fused at least basally into a tube (falling as a unit), not on a hypanthium; stamens 2, 4, 5, or 7; [plants of mesic habitats].
                                               23 Petals yellowish-white, with prominent green streaks; biennial or monocarpic plant, 10-30 dm tall when fertile; leaves 15-35 cm long
                                               23 Petals white or yellow; perennial plants, 1-15 dm tall; leaves 1-15 cm long.

Key R: herbaceous dicots with opposite, compound leaves on the stem

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1 Inflorescence an involucrate head subtended by phyllaries, heads solitary or many, variously arrayed in secondary inflorescences; fruit a cypsela
1 Inflorescence various, but not as above; fruit various, not as above.
      4 Plants vines, climbing or sprawling, the leaves often with tendril like petioles and leaf rachises; corolla 4-parted, radially symmetrical
      4 Plants not vines, more or less erect to arching and lacking adaptations for climbing; corolla 5-parted, radially or bilaterally symmetrical
        5 Plants often with a mix of mostly opposite, deeply 3-lobed leaves or trifoliate leaves (leaves sometimes simple); flowers pink or purplish-white, axillary; plants annual
        5 Plants typically with all leaves with > 3 leaflets; flowers primarily white, borne in dense terminal corymbs/cymes; plants perennial
          6 Cauline leaves essentially sessile, and also palmately cleft to the base, and further lacerately divided into linear or oblanceolate segments
          6 Cauline leaves petiolate, with 3-5, sessile or petiolulate, ovate, elliptic, or obovate leaflets (these serrate and sometimes with additional lobes).
             7 Plants annual; flowers typically unisexual and not showy, green; plants highly resinous and glandular; inflorescences variously arranged
             7 Plants perennial; flowers radially symmetric, showy, variously colored; plants typically not strongly resinous or glandular; inflorescences terminal

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).
                       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.
                                               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).
                                                                         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.
                                                                                    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.
                                                                                                 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).

Key S2: herbaceous dicots with opposite, simple, and palmately lobed leaves on the stem {add [Humulus] CANNABINACEAE}

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1 Leaf lobes very narrow, < 3 mm wide; 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 Leaf lobes broad, >20 mm wide; inflorescence, flower, and fruit structure various, but not with the combination of features as above.
  2 Leaves >4 per above-ground stem; perianth 5-merous; flowers bilaterally symmetrical, the corolla with connate petals, lavender-white with yellow markings in the throat; fruit a large curved capsule
  2 Leaves 1-2 per above-ground stem; perianth 3-merous; flowers radially symmetrical, the corolla absent or with distinct petals, white; fruit a berry or aggregate of berries.
    3 Leaves with peltate petiole attachment; carpel 1; petals present, white
    3 Leaves with petiole attached marginally; carpels many, as separate pistils; petals absent

Key S3: herbaceous dicots with opposite, simple, and pinnately 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 tightly grouped, but then with other features differing, such as stamens 4, or green calyx present, or fruit a schizocarp of mericarps, etc.).
  2 Flowers tiny, individually inconspicuous; perianth absent or vestigial; fruit a utricle
  2 Flowers larger, individually conspicuous; perianth present, the petals or sepals brightly colored; fruit a capsule (or aggregate of achenes in Clematis in RANUNCULACEAE or schizocarp of 4 mericarps in Glandularia in VERBENACEAE).
    3 Flowers radially symmetrical; stamens 5 or many; fruit a capsule or aggregate of achenes.
      4 Stamens many; fruit an aggregate of plumose achenes
    3 Flowers bilaterally symmetrical (sometimes only slightly so); stamens 4 (or 2 in Veronica in PLANTAGINACEAE); fruit a capsule or schizocarp of mericarps.
        5 Inflorescence of cymosely arranged spikes or heads; fruit a schizocarp of 4 nutlets
        5 Inflorescence of solitary axillary flowers or terminal racemes.
          6 Corolla yellow, orange, or red; plants often drying black (but not Striga); sepals connate into a tube at least 1/3 as long as the corolla lobes; calyx 5-merous
          6 Corolla white, pink, lavender, or blue; plants not drying black; sepals distinct or only shortly connate into a short tube, the calyx lobes much longer than the tube; calyx 5- or 4-merous