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Keyed in multiple places:

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 H: woody plants with whorled leaves

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1 Leaves tiny, bract-like, triangular, 6-14 (-17) per node
1 Leaves either needle-like, scale-like, or flattened and large, (2-) 3-4 (-6) per node.
  2 Leaves needle-like or scale-like, terete, angled, or flat in ×-section, < 2 cm long; leaves (2-) 3-4 (-6) per node
  2 Leaves flat, > 3 cm long; leaves (2-) 3 per node; [Eudicots].
    3 Plant a subshrub, < 3 dm tall, with < 10 leaves per stem.
      4 Leaves entire, broadly elliptic; flowers numerous, in a hemispherical head, subtended by 4 large white bracts
      4 Leaves serrate, narrowly ovate or narrowly obovate; flowers (1-) 2-8 in a long-peduncled umbel or corymb, not subtended by bracts
    3 Plant a shrub or tree, > 3 dm tall, with many > 10 leaves per stem.
        5 Leaves toothed, and most leaves also lobed
        5 Leaves entire, not lobed.
          6 Leaves cordate at base; leaves about as long as wide; medium to large tree.
             7 Flowers white to yellow; capsules linear, >10× as long as wide; leaf undersurface with curly simple hairs; nectar glands present in the main vein axils on the undersurface of the leaf (visible from the underside or the upperside in fresh leaves and herbarium specimens as a triangle 1-4 mm on a side)
             7 Flowers lavender; capsules ellipsoid, < 2× as long as wide; leaf undersurface with branched (dendritic or stellate) hairs; nectar glands absent
          6 Leaves cuneate to rounded at base; leaves > 1.5× as long as wide; shrub to small tree.
               8 Leaves rounded at the tip
               8 Leaves acute to acuminate at the tip.
                 9 Leaves lanceolate or oblong-elliptic (> 2.5× as long as wide), the secondary venation not prominent; inflorescences axillary or terminal; flowers pink or white.
                   10 Inflorescences axillary; flowers pink; leaves thin and herbaceous; [native plants of wetlands]
                   10 Inflorescences terminal or axillary; flowers pink or white; leaves thick and leathery; [exotics of uplands or wetlands, persistent or weakly naturalized]
                     11 Fruit berry-like with 2-locular ovaries; flowers white-colored, smaller; inflorescence axillary or pseudo-terminal; leaves opposite to whorled
                     11 Fruit follicles; flowers variously colored, showy and salverform; inflorescence terminal; leaves alternate to whorled (pseudo-whorled)
                 9 Leaves ovate (< 2× as long as wide), the secondary venation prominent and arching-parallel; inflorescences terminal; flowers white, greenish-yellow, red, or orange.
                       12 Flowers in a spherical or hemispherical head; corollas white or greenish-yellow
                       12 Flowers in a monochasial helicoid cyme; corollas red to orange

Key J4: shrubs and subshrubs with opposite simple leaves with entire margins

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1 Aerial and epiphytic, hemiparasitic shrub
1 Terrestrial, autotrophic or hemiparasitic shrub or subshrub.
  2 Leaves succulent, nearly as thick as wide; [brackish to saline situations]
  2 Leaves herbaceous (succulent in Borrichia), much wider than thick; [various habitats].
    3 Creeping or short subshrubs, the stems primarily prostrate, < 2 dm tall.
      4 Well-developed leaves 4-6 per stem; inflorescence a head subtended by 4 large white bracts
      4 Well-developed leaves many per stem; inflorescence of individual flowers axillary in pairs or clusters or in terminal cymes.
        5 Flowers yellow; leaves with pellucid or dark punctate glands (use at least 10× magnification)
        5 Flowers white, pale pink, or deep pink; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.
          6 Leaves linear; flowers pale to deep pink, 5-merous
          6 Leaves orbicular or elliptic; flowers white to pale pink, 4-merous or 5-merous
             7 Leaves elliptic; flowers 5-merous; fruit a brownish capsule
             7 Leaves orbicular; flowers 4-merous; fruit a red berry
    3 Upright or scrambling shrubs, > 3 dm tall
               8 Scrambling shrubs, armed with recurved paired spines at the nodes
               8 Upright shrubs, unarmed.
                 9 Inflorescence a terminal head of many flowers.
                   10 Head spherical, lacking an involucre of conspicuous bracts or phyllaries
                   10 Head flattened, either subtended by 4 large white bracts or by an involucre with >5 green phyllaries.
                     11 Head subtended by 4 large white bracts; leaves with prominently parallel-arcing secondary veins; flowers 4-merous
                     11 Head subtended by an involucre of >5 green phyllaries; leaves with venation otherwise; flowers 5-merous
                 9 Inflorescence otherwise, either of a solitary flower, or one of a wide variety of inflorescences with flowers attached at different points along branched or unbranched axes (e.g. axillary). {add: [Lagerstroemia] LYTHRACEAE; [Rosmarinus] LAMIACEAE; [Laguncularia] COMBRETACEAE; [Buxus] BUXACEAE; [Exochorda] ROSACEAE; various other [see spreadsheet]}
                       12 Inflorescence flat-topped (broader than long), terminal, a compound cyme or corymb.
                          13 Flowers bright yellow; stamens many; leaves < 1.5 cm wide; fruit a capsule; leaves with pellucid or dark punctate glands (use at least 10× magnification)
                          13 Flowers white or creamy; stamens 4-5; leaves > 1.5 cm wide; fruit a drupe; leaves lacking sessile, punctate glands.
                            14 Petals 5; foliage with simple hairs
                            14 Petals 4; foliage with T-shaped hairs
                       12 Inflorescence either terminal and not flat-topped (longer than wide), or axillary and variously shaped, or terminal and solitary, or leaf-opposed.
                              15 Carpels many (> 9), either separate or fused; stamens many; perianth segments either many and undifferentiated into calyx and corolla, maroon, brown, or yellow (in CALYCANTHACEAE), or differentiated into a fleshy and persistent calyx of 5-9 sepals, and a deciduous corolla of 5-9 red (or white) petals (Punica in LYTHRACEAE).
                                16 Fruit a wrinkled, 3-7 cm long, brown to black, elliptical aggregate of nearly spherical, large achenes; flowers solitary in axils; perianth segments many and undifferentiated into calyx and corolla, maroon, brown, or yellowish; ovary superior; branches unarmed
                                16 Fruit a leathery, 4-15 cm in diameter, reddish, spherical berry with obpyramidal seeds surrounded by a juicy sarcotesta (pomegranate); perianth differentiated, the sepals fleshy and persistent on the fruit, the petals deciduous, 5-9, bright red to white; ovary inferior; branches typically armed with axillary spines
                              15 Carpels 1-5, fused; stamens either 1-5 or 8-10; perianth segments 4-5 or 8, variously colored; fruit a simple capsule, drupe, or berry (including berry-like fruit); flowers 2-many, in axillary or terminal inflorescences (pistillate flowers sometimes solitary in SANTALACEAE and THESIACEAE); [Eudicots].
                                  17 Ovary inferior; corolla absent, radially symmetrical, or bilaterally symmetrical; fruit either a berry or a 1-seeded drupe.
                                    18 Flowers unisexual and plants dioecious; corolla absent; pistillate flowers solitary, staminate flowers in pedunculate umbels or cymes, either terminal or axillary; fruit a 1-seeded drupe; leaves acute to acuminate at the apex
                                       19 Inflorescences terminal
                                       19 Inflorescences axillary
                                    18 Flowers bisexual and plants hermaphroditic; corolla present; flowers paired, terminal or axillary, or in axillary spikes; fruit a berry; leaves rounded, obtuse, to acute (or acuminate in Lonicera maackii) at the apex
                                  17 Ovary superior; corolla radially symmetrical (absent in Forestiera in OLEACEAE); fruit either a 1-4-seeded drupe, or a many-seeded berry (or berry-like fruit), or a capsule.
                                         20 Leaves with a conspicuous mix of silvery stellate hairs (upper) and rusty colored scales (lower); ovaries bearing rusty colored scales; flowers small, yellowish and inconspicuous; [nw. PA northward]
                                         20 Leaves glabrous or nearly so, lacking a conspicuous mix of stellate hairs adaxially and rusty scales abaxially; ovaries not bearing rusty colored scales; flowers of various size and color.
                                           21 Stamens 8-10, of 2 different lengths in each flower; petals separate, 4-5 (-7), pink purple, 10-15 mm long; stems strongly arching, rooting at the tips; [plants of flooded to saturated wetlands]
                                           21 Stamens either (1-) 2 (-4), or 4-5, or 10, all of the same length; petals fused (separate in RHAMNACEAE and BUXACEAE, but then < 5 mm long and white or cream), white, bright-yellow, lilac, or pink; stems erect (or at least not arching and rooting at the tips); [plants of various habitats].
                                             22 Petals separate, 4-5, white or cream; stamens 4-5.
                                               23 Fruit a loculicidal capsule, dehiscing into 3 valves; branches square in ×-section; leaves < 2 cm long; [exotic, cultivated and weakly established, of temperate areas]
                                               23 Fruit a drupe with 2-4 pyrenes; branches round or nearly so in ×-section; leaves > 2 cm long; [natives, of peninsular FL]
                                             22 Petals fused, 4-5, white, bright yellow, lilac, or pink; stamens either (1-) 2 (-4) or 10; fruit either a capsule or a 1-seeded drupe.
                                                 24 Perianth 5-merous; corolla pink; stamens 10; fruit a 5-locular capsule
                                                 24 Perianth 4-merous; corolla white, bright yellow, or lilac; stamens (1-) 2 (-4); fruit either a 1-seeded drupe or a 2-locular capsule
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