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Key to Berberidaceae

Berberidaceae

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1 Leaves 2-3-ternately compound; [subfamily Nandinoideae].
  2 Plant a shrub, with multiple leaves; flowers white
  2 Plant an herb, with 2 leaves; flowers green, greenish yellow, or maroon
1 Leaves simple (sometimes shallowly to deeply lobed), 2-foliolate, 3-foliolate, or 1-pinnately compound.
    3 Plant a shrub; leaves simple, palmately 3-foliolate, or 1-pinnately compound; flowers yellow; [subfamily Berberidoideae]
      4 Leaves simple, fascicled on short spur shoots; stems spiny; leaves deciduous or evergreen
      4 Leaves 1-pinnately compound or palmately 3-foliolate, either fascicled on short spur shoots (Alloberberis) or not fascicled (Mahonia); stems not spiny; leaves evergreen.
        5 Leaves 1-pinnately compound; stems monomorphic (leaves borne on primary shoots); berries blue or black
    3 Plant an herb; leaves peltate, 2-parted or radially lobed; flowers white; [subfamily Podophylloideae].
          6 Plant acaulescent; flower solitary and scapose; leaf segments 2; fruit a capsule
          6 Plant caulescent; flower solitary, or cymose to umbellate, borne on a stem with leaves; leaf segments several; fruit a berry.
             7 Flowers cymose or umbellate; stamens 6; berry globose, 8-12 mm long, 2-4 seeded; larger leaves with only 2 clefts that extend > halfway to the peltate center of the leaf (thus the leaf divided into 2 halves, the other sinuses shallow)
             7 Flower solitary; stamens 12-18; berry ovoid, 25-70 mm long, many-seeded; larger leaves with 5 or more clefts that extend > halfway to the peltate center of the leaf (thus the leaf fairly evenly divided into multiple lobes)

Key F1: Key to Plantae

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1 Leaves 1- or 2-foliolate, if 1-foliolate then deeply notched and appearing bilobed (Bauhinia, which is also keyed in Key G).
  2 Leaves 1-foliolate (bilobed)
  2 Leaves 2-foliolate
    3 Leaflets elliptic to lanceolate, acute at the apex; petals white, not clawed; fruit a pinkish-red berry, mucilagenous or dry at maturity; plants shrubs
    3 Leaves cordate and deeply cleft (appearing 2-foliolate) or if subtly 2-foliolate, the lobes rounded at the ends; petals pink, clawed; fruit an elongated legume; plants shrubs or sometimes vines
1 Leaves 3-, 5-, to many-foliolate.
      4 Plant a liana, climbing by twining, by tendrils, or by adventitious roots.
        5 Leaves untoothed and unlobed; fruit a legume
        5 Leaves coarsely toothed or lobed; fruit a berry (except legume in Pueraria)
          6 Leaflets obovate or broadly elliptic (broadest at or above the middle), the teeth or lobes soley or primarily in the apical half of the leaf; plant climbing by tendrils; fruit a blue to black berry.
             7 Plants with leaves trifoliolate only, the blades fleshy, > 1 mm thick when fresh, the leaftlets ovate to oblong; inflorescence axillary (accompanying leaves, not opposing them); [tribe Cayratieae]
             7 Plants often with a mix of well-developed trifoliate leaves and (less-developed) tri-lobed, simple leaves (the lobes or leaflets broadly ovate to ovate-reniform), these herbaceous, the blades thin; inflorescence leaf-opposed; [tribe Cisseae]
          6 Leaflets orbicular or ovate (broadest at the middle or below the middle), the teeth or lobes primarily or solely in the basal half of the leaf; plant climbing by stem twining or by dense, reddish adventitious roots; fruit a legume (Pueraria) or whitish berry (Toxicodendron).
               8 Plant climbing by the stem twining; [plant not actually woody, but so robust as to often be assumed to be so]
               8 Plant climbing by dense, reddish adventitious roots attaching the stem to tree trunks or rock outcrops
      4 Plant a shrub or small tree (sometimes scrambling or occasionally high-climbing with the support of other vegetation, but lacking the specialized climbing structures listed above, e.g., Akebia).
                 9 Stems armed with small prickles or stout thorns.
                   10 Stems with stout thorns at the nodes; fruit a hesperidium (orange-like, but densely hairy)
                   10 Stems with many small prickles along the internodes (directly below the nodes; sometimes inconspicuous on the vegetative stems of Erythrina); fruit various: either a legume, berry, an aggregate of drupelets, or a hip.
                     11 Leaflets with 2 rounded lateral lobes near the base, otherwise entire; fruit a legume; corolla red
                     11 Leaflet bases cuneate to rounded, unlobed (sometimes cleft), but lacking 2 rounded, lateral lobes at their bases; fruit either a drupe (Eleutherococcus), berry (Triphasia), OR a hip or aggregate of drupelets (ROSACEAE); corolla variously colored.
                       12 Flowers 3-merous (sometimes with 4 or rarely with 5 petals); fruit a glabrous berry, reddish when ripened; [uncommon non-native, s. FL]
                       12 Flowers 4- or 5-merous (with 4 or 5 petals); fruit a drupe, an aggregate of drupes, or a hip; [collectively widespread natives and non-natives, including s. FL].
                          13 Inflorescence a compound umbel, notably rounded in shape; leaves 3-5-foliolate (often trifoliolate, sometimes palmately compound); fruit a drupe; [uncommon non-native, n. FL]
                          13 Inflorescence a panicle, not notably rounded in shape; leaves 3 or more foliolate; fruit an aggregate of drupelets or a hip; [natives and non-natives; widespread]
                 9 Stems unarmed.
                            14 Leaflets serrulate, crenulate, serrate, with a few coarse and jagged teeth (spine-tipped or not), or shallowly lobed (Erythrina).
                              15 Leaflets serrulate or crenulate (crenulate teeth minute in Murraya, look closely).
                                16 Leaflets 3-11 (usually 5+ per leaf, also keyed in F5); fruit a fleshy berry, red to dark orange at maturity; [uncommon non-native, s. FL]
                                16 Leaflets usually 3 (leaves typically trifoliolate); fruit a conspicuously winged samara (dry at maturity), greenish-brown at maturity; [natives, c. FL northward and westward]
                              15 Leaflets serrate, with a few coarse and jagged teeth (spine-tipped or not), or shallowly lobed (Erythrina).
                                  17 Leaflets with 2 prominent, rounded lobes near the base; fruit a legume; flowers > 3 cm long, corollas bilaterally symmetrical, red, in a terminal raceme
                                  17 Leaflets serrate and sometimes also cleft, or with a few coarse and jagged teeth (spine-tipped or not); fruit either a tan or red drupe or a red berry; flowers < 1 cm across, corollas radially symmetrical, green, yellow, or white, in axillary or terminal panicles or racemes
                                    18 Leaflets not spine-tipped; fruit a red or tan drupe; [collectively widespread]
                            14 Leaflets entire and unlobed.
                                       19 Terminal leaflet sessile.
                                         20 Leaflets < 2 cm long; stems and branches dark green
                                         20 Leaflets 2-5 cm long (Hypelate) or 5-15 cm long (Ptelea); stems and branches tan to brown
                                           21 Leaflets obovate to oblanceolate, the apices usually rounded; leaves 2-5 cm long, often congested at branch tips; fruit a fleshy drupe, maroon or black-colored when ripened; flowers arranged in panicles; [s. FL only in our area]
                                           21 Leaflets usually ovate, the apices acute or acuminate; leaves 5-15 cm long, usually spaced throughout the stems, rarely congested at leaf tips; fruit a samara, brown when ripened; flowers arranged in cymes; [c. FL northward, widespread]
                                       19 Terminal leaflet with a petiolule.
                                             22 Fruit a 3-angled capsule, valvate; leaves with a strong scent of horseradish
                                             22 Fruit a berry, a berry-like drupe, or a legume (not valvate but often dehiscent); leaves lacking a strong scent of horseradish.
                                               23 Petals white, small (ca. 4 mm long); fruit a pinkish-red berry, mucilagenous or dry at maturity
                                               23 Petals small to large, variously colored (including white); fruit a legume or if berry like, then white at maturity, often somewhat laterally flattened, and plants vining, rhizomatous shrubs (Toxicodendron).
                                                 24 Leaves pinnately trifoliolate, a rachis present as an extension of the petiole past the point of attachment of the 2 lateral leaflets, the terminal leaflet borne on a petiolule at the terminus of the rachis, with an obvious joint present between the rachis and petiolule; fruit a legume
                                                 24 Leaves palmately trifoliolate, the terminal leaflet typically with a longer petiolule than the lateral leaflets, but lacking a rachis (the petiolule of the terminal leaflet attached at the same point as the 2 lateral leaflets and unjointed); fruit a white, berry-like drupe (globose or often laterally somewhat flattened).