Click the number at the start of a key lead to highlight both that lead and its corresponding lead. Click again to show only the two highlighted leads. Click a third time to return to the full key with the selected leads still highlighted.

Key to Heuchera

Saxifragaceae

Heuchera

Copy permalink to share

1 Calyx glandular-villous, white or pink, often with green-tipped lobes, 1.3-3.3 mm long, 1.1-2.9 mm in diameter; free hypanthium 0.1-0.4 mm long; petals linear or oblanceolate, 2-3× as long as the calyx lobes, glabrous; plants flowering (Jun-) Jul-Oct; [section Holochloa, subsection Villosae].
  2 Leaves with widely to narrowly triangular lobes and triangular teeth; petals linear, often coiled; seeds echinate; internodes of flora branches 0.3-2.9 mm long.
    3 Inflorescences strongly condensed; flowers larger and campanulate with mouth sides parallel; leaf blades viscid, very thin, and soft-pilose; [of the southern Ozarks]
    3 Inflorescences open; flowers small and urceolate with a tapering mouth (in life, pressing campanulate as above); leaf blades somewhat coriaceous, hispid or smooth, hardly or not at all viscid; [of the Cumberland Plateau and Appalachian Mountains).
      4 Leaves shallowly lobed, the terminal lobe wider than long; bracts of the inflorescence oblong to spatulate, at least the lower ones toothed; petioles densely villous; rhizomes > 1 cm in diameter; lower leaf surface hirsute; [of the Alleghenies, Cumberlands, and Interior Low Plateau, usually in calcareous or subcalcareous substrates]
      4 Leaves deeply and sharply lobed, the terminal lobe longer than wide; bracts of the inflorescence linear, rarely toothed; petioles loosely villous; rhizomes < 1 cm in diameter; lower leaf surface glabrous to sparsely pubescent; [primarily of Ridge and Valley, Blue Ridge, and upper Piedmont, usually in very acidic substrates]
  2 Leaves with rounded lobes and rounded teeth; petals oblanceolate, reflexed; seeds smooth; internodes of floral branches 2.5-11.2 mm long.
          6 Stamens exserted > 1.7 mm, styles exserted > 1.7 mm, laminar hair length > 0.5 mm, leaf coriaceous; [dolomite or limestone landscapes, often in more exposed situations in riparian areas, in the Ozarks]
          6 Stamens exserted almost always < 1.7 mm, styles exserted almost always < 1.7 mm, laminar hair length < 0.6 mm, leaf membraneous; [highly acidic substrates (gneiss) in sw. NC].
             7 Styles exserted < 1.25 mm; inflorescences notably condensed (lower pedicels mostly < 5 mm long); flower orientation in life subhorizontal; [of the Interior Low Plateau and s. Cumberlands to the St. Francis River, MO]
             7 Styles exserted > 1.75 mm; inflorescence open (lower pedicels mostly > 5 mm long); flower orientation in life pendent; [of the Cumberlands, southern Blue Ridge, and upper Piedmont].
               8 Mature leaf blades not viscid (the texture suede-like); [of sandstone substrates in the Cumberland Plateau, and disjunct in the southern Appalachian Escarpment of sw. NC, nw. SC, and ne. GA]
               8 Mature leaf blades strongly sticky-viscid; [of quartzite substrates in the NC Piedmont and Blue Ridge escarpment of nw. and nc. NC]
1 Calyx glandular-puberulent, greenish, 2.9-13.2 mm long, 2.4-7.5 mm in diameter; free hypanthium 0.6-7.0 mm long; petals rhombic-spatulate, slightly shorter to slightly longer than the calyx lobes, glandular-puberulent on the lower surface; plants flowering Apr-Jun; [section Heuchera, subsection Heuchera].
                   10 At the onset of anthesis stamens exserted 0.2-1.5 mm beyond the calyx and styles included or exserted up to 1.1 mm beyond the calyx; calyx subglobose
                   10 At the onset of anthesis the stamens exserted 3 mm or more beyond the calyx and styles exserted 2.6 mm or more beyond the calyx; calyx urceolate or campanulate.
                     11 Petioles glabrous, short-pubescent, or scantily hirsute; free hypanthium either (0.6-) avg. 1.1 (-1.5) mm long or (1.5-) avg. 1.7 (-1.9) mm long.
                       12 Free hypanthium 0.6-1.5 mm long; petals greenish, white, creamy, or pink, the margins entire or bearing short teeth
                            14 Stigmas included within the calyx (the calyx lobes extending 1.3-5.3 mm beyond the stigma tips); calyx tubular; calyx lobes and petals inflexed, closing the mouth of the flower.
                              15 Terminal lobe of leaf longer than wide or as long as wide; leaf lobes acute to acute-obtuse at apex; leaves often strongly variegated; [Blue Ridge and Ridge and Valley of w. NC and e. TN]
                              15 Terminal lobe of leaf wider than long; leaf lobes obtuse to rounded at apex; leaves green to variegated; [s. OH south through e. KY and e. TN; disjunct in sc. TN and in ec. AL]
                            14 Stigmas barely included within the calyx (the calyx lobes extending up to 0.6 mm beyond the stigma tips) to moderately exserted beyond it; calyx subglobose or campanulate; calyx lobes and petals erect or spreading, not closing the mouth of the flower.
                                16 Calyx 2.8-4.5 mm long, subglobose; [of the Piedmont of sc. VA southward to SC]
                                16 Calyx 5.5-13.2 mm long, narrowly campanulate; [primarily of the Mountains and upper Piedmont of VA and nc. NC northwards].
                                  17 Flowers large, with white, exserted petals; [strongly acidic to subacidic substrates, such as quartzitic sandstones, in w. VA and adjacent e. WV and northwards to c. PA]
                                  17 Flowers smaller, with greenish or purplish-green petals; [lower elevations on circumneutral or subacidic substrates]