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1 Canes armed primarily with bristles or slender-based prickles. |
2 Canes armed with slender-based prickles; leaves soft- pubescent beneath |
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1 Canes armed with heavy, stout-based, often recurved, prickles (or the canes essentially unarmed, the broad-based prickles few or almost absent). |
3 Leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, definitely wider beyond the middle, generally obtuse or rounded at the tip; leaves densely white- or gray- tomentose beneath; [primarily of the Coastal Plain] |
3 Leaflets lanceolate to ovate, widest below or near the middle, generally acute or acuminate at the tip; leaves glabrous to pubescent beneath, but the pubescence not notably tight and white or gray; [collectively widespread]. |
4 Pubescence of the inflorescence rachis and pedicels predominantly gland-tipped, glandular hairs often present also on the young primocanes and the branches of the floricanes. |
5 Inflorescences racemose, flaring widely towards the tip, or leafy and < 2× as long as wide; calyx lobes > 7 mm long, > 3 mm wide. |
6 Primocane leaves with central leaflets ovate to elliptic- oblong, usually about 2/3× as wide as long |
6 Primocane leaves with central leaflets ovate to elliptic- oblong, usually about 3/4× as wide as long (or wider) |
5 Inflorescences narrowly racemose, usually appearing almost leafless (the bracts much smaller than the leaves, at least 2× as long as wide; sepals 5-7 (-8) mm long, 2.0-3.5 mm wide. |
7 Primocane leaves with terminal leaflets 1-1.4× as long as wide |
7 Primocane leaves with terminal leaflets < 1.6× as long as wide. |
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8 Canes unarmed or with a few, scattered short prickles |
4 Pubescence of the inflorescence rachis and pedicels nonglandular. |
9 Primocane leaves with central leaflets ovate- elliptic to nearly orbicular; floricanes generally arching to low-arching, 5-13 (+) dm tall; inflorescences leafy- racemose. |
10 Leaflet undersurfaces velvety-hairy |
10 Leaflet undersurfaces glabrous to moderately soft-hairy. |
11 Leaves glabrous (or very nearly so) beneath; canes with at most few and weak prickles; leaflets of the primocanes with attenuate to caudate apices |
11 Leaves softly pubescent beneath; canes with many and strong prickles; leaflets of the primocanes with acute to acuminate apices |
9 Primocane leaves with central leaflets narrowly elliptic, elliptic, or obovate; floricanes generally erect to arching, 7-40 dm tall; inflorescences various. |
12 Primocane leaves with central leaflets narrowly elliptic, > 2× as long as wide; inflorescences condensed at the ends of weak, leafy racemes or small, flaring clusters, the bracteal leaflets with jaggedly incised margins |
12 Primocane leaves with central leaflets elliptic to obovate, < 2× as long as wide; inflorescences with substantial flower stalks and bracteal leaflets with regularly toothed margins. |
13 Primocane leaves with central leaflets generally widest above the midpoint; leaflet lower surfaces densely velvety, grayish-green; inflorescences with 5-11 flowers, often condensed at the ends of stout, well- armed racemes |
13 Primocane leaves with central leaflets generally widest at or below the midpoint; leaflets softly pubescent beneath, but not grayish-green; inflorescences with 5-16 (-20) flowers, typically racemose (rarely short and flaring). |
14 Primocane leaves with central leaflets acuminate or strongly acuminate to a filiform tip; inflorescences narrowly racemose |
14 Primocane leaves with central leaflets acute to short- acuminate; inflorescences widened towards their apices |