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Key to Robinia

Fabaceae

Robinia

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1 Corolla white, 1.5-2.0 cm long; peduncles, pedicels, and calyces velvety-puberulent, the hairs neither glandular nor hispid; plant a small to large tree
1 Corolla pink to pink-purple (rarely white or nearly so), (1.5-) 2.0-2.5 cm long; peduncles, pedicels, and calyces glandular-pubescent, hispid, or with short-stalked to sessile glands; plant a shrub to small tree.
  2 Twigs and leafstalks conspicuously hispid with hairs 1-5 mm long, these stiff, thick-based, and typically persistent several years.
    3 Plants fruiting abundantly; shrubs 0.6-2 (-3) m tall; leaflets relatively broad, mostly 1.2-1.8× as long as wide
    3 Plants sterile (rarely fruiting scantily); shrubs 0.5-1.5 m tall; leaflets relatively narrow, mostly 1.8-2.5× as long as wide
  2 Twigs and leafstalks either viscid with sessile or short-stalked glands, or densely glandular-pubescent (the hairs 0.5-2 mm long), or tomentulose, or sparsely hispid with weak, non-persistent hairs.
      4 Leaflets usually 13-21, permanently but inconspicuously appressed-pubescent beneath; bracts (evident only before anthesis) aristate; plants never with long, hispid pubescence.
        5 Twigs and peduncles finely glandular-pubescent with hairs 1 (-2) mm long; plants abundantly pod-forming
        5 Twigs and peduncles viscid with sessile or short-stalked glands (the racemes sometimes with some glandular pubescence); plants sterile or forming pods
      4 Leaflets usually 9-13, initially appressed-silky but later glabrate beneath; bracts (evident only before anthesis) not aristate; plants with or without sparse, long, hispid pubescence.
          6 Plants fruiting abundantly; shrubs 1-3 m tall
          6 Plants sterile (rarely fruiting scantily); shrubs or small trees, 0.2-3 (-8) m tall.
             7 Shrubs or small trees, 1-3 (-8) m tall, much branched, the stems and branches relatively straight, the nodes usually lacking spines
             7 Shrubs, 0.2-1 m tall, little branched, the stems and branches typically zigzag (bent at each node), the nodes usually with spines