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Key to Brickellia

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1 Shrubs; leaves opposite; [TX westward]; [section Xerobrickellia]
1 Perennial herbs (sometimes from a woody caudex); leaves opposite, subopposite, or alternate (or mixed); [collectively widespread].
  2 Leaves rounded to cordate at base; lower stem leaf blades 1-2.5× as long as wide; petioles 10-70 mm long; flowers 20-40 (-70) per head; [section Brickellia]
    3 Heads nodding in flower and fruit; pappus purplish, of 38-46 bristles; flowers purplish; [GA, AL and n. FL]
    3 Heads ascending or erect in flower and fruit; pappus white, of 20-30 bristles; flowers pale yellow-green; [MO and AR and westward]
  2 Leaves cuneate at base; lower stem leaf blades 2-8× as long as wide; petioles 0-10 mm long; flowers 6-35 per head; [collectively widespread in our region].
      4 Blades of middle and upper stem leaves lance-ovate, 2-3.5× as long as wide; pappus of 30-35 barbellate bristles; [nc. to sc. TX, mainly Edwards Plateau]; [section Coleosanthus]
      4 Blades of middle and upper stem leaves linear or lanceolate, 4-10× as long as wide; pappus of 20-28 plumose or subplumose bristles; [collectively widespread in our region]; [section Kuhnia].
        5 Flowers 6-15 per head; [collectively widespread in our region].
          6 Outer and middle phyllaries often nearly equaling the inner in length, with apices long-attenuate into falcate or twisted, filiform tips
          6 Outer and middle phyllaries graduate in length, with apices apices appressed, acute to short-acuminate, similar to the inner.
             7 Leaves (below the inflorescence) lanceolate-ovate to lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, mostly 25-100 mm long, 5-40 mm wide, rarely linear as populational variants, if linear then 15-30 mm long, 2-3 mm wide; widespread in our region, south in FL to ec. peninsular FL (Brevard County)]
             7 Leaves (all of the stem) linear, 6-8 (-25) mm long, 1-2 (-3) mm wide; [s. FL (Miami-Dade County)]
        5 Flowers (12-) 14-35 per head; [collectively: s. IN, s. IL, sw. MO, c. OK, and ne. and wc. TX northwestwards].
               8 Leaves linear; flowers 15-35 per head; [ec. TX westwards]
               8 Leaves broader; flowers (12-) 14-24 (-29) per head; [collectively: s. IN, s. IL, sw. MO, c. OK, and ne. and wc. TX northwestwards]
                 9 Outer and middle phyllaries often nearly equaling the inner in length, with apices long-attenuate into loose and spreading, falcate or twisted, filiform tips

Key to Asteraceae, Key A: woody composites (shrubs and lianas)

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1 Leaves opposite, at least on the lower stem nodes (the leaves higher on the stem sometimes alternate); [tribe Heliantheae or tribe Eupatorieae].
  2 Heads radiate, the rays yellow to orange; disc flowers yellow to orange.
    3 Leaves linear; receptacle epaleate, but densely setose; [extreme s. TX]
      4 Leaves mostly entire, rarely distally 3-lobed, often somewhat glaucous; disc florets 30-100+; receptacle densely setose; pappus of scales
      4 Leaves usually shallowly to deeply 3-9-lobed, green; Disc florets 100+; receptacle with oblong-rectangular paleae; leaves linear or linear-lobed; pappus absent
    3 Leaves lanceolate or broader, 1-5× as long as wide; receptacle paleate; heads borne singly or many; [collectively widespread].
        5 Leaves ovate, rhombic, or pentagonal, unlobed or 3-5-(-7) lobed; leaf blade margins toothed; leaves in part alternate upwards; [of disturbed, suburban areas of FL peninsula]; [tribe Heliantheae; subtribe Helianthinae]
          6 Ray laminae 5-16 mm long; leaf blades 7-33 cm long, the larger deeply 3-7-lobed; petiole bases dilated at base, fused to form a disc of leaf tissue at the stem
          6 Ray laminae 45-70 mm long; leaf blades 2-8 cm long, unlobed or 3-lobed; petiole bases not dilated at base
        5 Leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, unlobed or obscurely 3-lobed; leaf blade margins toothed or entire; leaves strictly opposite; [tribe Heliantheae; subtribe Ecliptinae].
             7 Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, unlobed, entire; heads (5-) 8-13 (-18+) mm in diameter; cypselas 3-4-smgled, not winged; [of tidally inundated salt and brackish marshes of the outer Coastal Plain, MD to s. FL, west to s. TX]
             7 Leaves lanceolate, sometimes 3-lobed, usually serrate but sometimes nearly entire; heads 4-8 mm in diameter; cypselas flattened and winged; [TX only]
  2 Heads discoid or disciform (ray flowers lacking); disc flowers pink, purple, whitish, yellow, or orange.
               8 Disc flowers pink, purple, or white.
                 9 Heads small (involucres 2-8 mm high), solitary, axillary in the axils of leaves or leafy bracts (similar to the leaves but smaller) or interpretable as arrayed in bracteate racemes; heads nodding, the involucre 2-7 mm high; [collectively widespread in coastal portions of our area, of maritime situations]; [tribe Heliantheae; subtribe Ambrosiinae]
 Iva
                 9 Heads small to larger (involucres 3-15+ mm high), many, terminal on the branches of corymbiform or paniculiform arrays; heads erect, the involucre 4-12 mm high; [of Coastal Plain of FL, s. GA, and TX].
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
                   10 Pappus of 4-10 scales, 0.3-7 mm long; [tribe Heliantheae; subtribe Chaenactidinae]
                   10 Pappus of 5-70 barbellate bristles, 3-12 mm long; [tribe Eupatoriae]
                     11 Leaf blades spatulate to obovate, cuneate to attenuate at the base, rounded or shallowly notched at the apex; leaf margins entire; leaves opposite below, alternate higher on the stems; [native of FL]
                     11 Leaf blades triangular or lanceolate, truncate, cordate, or cuneate at the base, acute to acuminate at the apex; leaf margins serrate; leaves opposite throughout.
                       12 Phyllaries broad, 2-3× as long as wide, the inner phyllaries translucent-scarious white to pinkish at their broadly rounded apices, falling as the head goes to fruit
                       12 Phyllaries narrow, 4-7× as long as wide, the inner phyllaries green at their acute to acuminate apices, persistent on the head in age.
                          13 Involucres 2-3 mm in diameter; phyllaries 7-16 in 1-2 series; disc flowers 3-13 per head; [s. FL only (in our region)]
                          13 Involucres 3-7 mm in diameter; phyllaries 25-35 in 2-3 series; disc flowers 10-60 per head; [TX only (in our region)].
                            14 Disc flowers blue to lavender (rarely white); [extreme s. TX]
1 Leaves strictly alternate.
                              15 Heads radiate (with ray and disc flowers) or pseudoradiate (with pseudoradiate flowers only.
                                  17 Rays pink or rose, 30-50 (-70); sprawling viny shrub to 40 dm tall; leaves ovate, averaging ca. 3× as long as wide, with clasping base, with a midvein and lateral veins and tertiary reticulation
                                  17 Rays white, 5-34+; shrubs 2-30 dm tall; leaves either obovate to oblanceolate, averaging ca. 4× as long as wide, dentate, or linear, ca. 10× as long as wide, entire, cuneate.
                                    18 Rays white, 5-11 (-15); leaves linear, ca. 10× as long as wide, entire; [native, s. and se. TX]
                                    18 Rays white, 21-34+; leaves obovate to oblanceolate, averaging ca. 4× as long as wide, dentate; [non-native, known in our region only from NY]
                                16 Rays or pseudorays yellow, orange-yellow, or light creamy yellow.
                                       19 Heads pseudoradiate, with 11-25 pseudoray flowers and 0 disc flowers; leaves 8-70 mm wide
                                       19 Heads radiate, with (0-) 1-11 (-15) ray flowers and 1-15 (-20) disc flowers; leaves (or their segments) 0.5-10 mm wide.
                                         20 Phyllaries in 1-2 series and equal or subequal in length to one another, the phyllaries often coherent/fused (the involucre thus appearing as a cylinder with ribs extending from base to top; calyculus (of bracts subtending the phyllaries and differing from them in texture, color, or orientation) present; [tribe Senecioneae]
                                         20 Phyllaries in 3-17 series and unequal in length (imbricated); calyculus absent.
                                             22 Pappus of 40-60 barbellate bristles; ray blades 4-6 mm long; leaf surfaces minutely pebbled; intricately branched shrubs to 1 m tall, with persistent sterile shoots with evergreen leaves and annual flowering shoots (the entire shoot and leaves deciduous); [Coastal Plain, se. NC south to Panhandle FL and s. MS]
                                             22 Pappus absent, a low coroniform structure, or of scales; ray blades 2-3.5 mm long; leaf surfaces planar/revolute; shrubs 1-15 dm tall, not differentiated into evergreen, sterile shoots bearing deciduous, fertile shoots; [OK and TX westwards, very rarely as a waif eastwards].
                                                        27 Leaves strongly basally disposed, crowded in the lowermost, woody or semiwoody portion of the stem
                                                            29 Heads in leafy, paniculate arrays; leaf blades coarsely dentate, 0.5-4 cm long; shrubs to 12 dm tall; [c. and e. TX]
                                                            29 Heads borne in leafless, corymbiform arrays; leaf blades entire to denticulate, 5-16 (-20) cm long; shrubs to 40 dm tall; [FL and s. TX]
                                                              30 Leaf blades obovate, spatulate, or orbiculate, rounded or slightly notched at the apex; leaf blade surfaces gray-green on both surfaces, granular when young; disc flowers 5 per head; [FL]
                                                              30 Leaf blades elliptic, acute to acuminate at the apex; leaf blade strongly bicolored above and below, the upper surface dark green and glabrate, the lower surface densely and finely tomentose and strongly whitened, the upper surface dark green and glabrate or glabrous; disc flowers 4-25 per head; [s. TX]