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Key to Ericaceae
https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40309
1 Plant an herb, subshrub, or sprawling shrub, not clonal by underground rhizomes (except Gaultheria procumbens and Epigaea repens), rarely > 3 dm tall; plants mycotrophic or hemi-mycotrophic (except Epigaea, Gaultheria, and Arctostaphylos). | |
2 Plants without chlorophyll (fully mycotrophic); stems fleshy; leaves represented by bract-like scales, white or variously colored, but not green; pollen grains single; [subfamily Monotropoideae; tribe Monotropeae]. | |
![]() Show caption*© Alan Cressler: Hypopitys lanuginosa, Chattahoochee National Forest, Rabun County, Georgia 1 by Alan Cressler | |
4 Flower solitary; stem glabrous; plant white (rarely pink or orange-yellow) when fresh, aging or drying black | |
2 Plants with chlorophyll (hemi-mycotrophic or autotrophic); stems woody; leaves present and well-developed, green; pollen grains in tetrads (single in Orthilia). | |
6 Style and filaments straight; filaments straight, the anthers closely surrounding the style; inflorescence distinctly secund (1-sided) | |
7 Plant erect, the leaves clustered near the apex of the single stem. | |
8 Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, normally 2-4× as long as wide (sometimes proportionately less narrow in stunted individuals; fruit a capsule, borne 1-several on an erect scape above the leaves [subfamily Monotropoideae; tribe Pyroleae] | |
7 Plant creeping or sprawling, leaves scattered along the stems. | |
9 Flowers in axillary or terminal spikes or racemes; fruit a fleshy loculicidal capsule or red drupe. | |
1 Plant either a shrub or tree (> 3 dm tall), or a shrub 1-3 dm tall (rarely a woody needle-leaved subshrub 0.5-1 m and definitely and obviously clonal by underground rhizomes; plants not mycotrophic or hemi-mycotrophic. | |
11 Leaves ca. 1 mm wide, 3-12 mm long, appearing opposite, alternate, or whorled (the internodes very short, thus the leaves generally appearing whorled); petals absent; fruit a subglobose, 2-stoned drupe, 1-3 mm in diameter; branches often appearing in whorls of 3-7; [subfamily Ericoideae; tribe Empetreae] | |
15 Petals separate; fruit 2-7-locular; either a shrub to 1 m tall with ovate to oblong, evergreen leaves, 0.6-1.2 cm long, or a shrub to small tree 2-6 (-9) m tall with elliptic, deciduous leaves, 4-12 cm long, or a shrub 1-2.5 m tall, with elliptic to ovate, evergreen leaves 2-4 cm long; [subfamily Ericoideae; tribe Phyllodoceae]. {add Rhododendron groenlandicum} | |
16 Fruit 2-3 (5)-locular; shrub to 1 m tall; leaves, 0.4-1.2 cm long; petals 2-4 mm long | |
16 Fruit 4-7-locular; shrub to small tree 1-6 (-9) m tall; leaves 2-12 cm long; petals 12-30 mm long. | |
17 Fruit 7-locular; leaves evergreen 2-4 cm long; petals 20-30 mm long; shrub 1-2.5 m tall | |
18 Leaves alternate or whorled, > 20 mm long. | |
21 Leaves coriaceous, evergreen, shiny and dark green above. | |
22 Leaves sharply and distinctly serrate. | |
23 Pedicels slender, 7-10 mm long; filaments strongly curved just below the anthers; pith transversely diaphragmed; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Lyonieae] | |
25 Leaves with a prominent vein running parallel to (and about 1 mm in from) the margin; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Lyonieae] | |
25 Leaves without a prominent marginal vein. | |
27 Flower stalks with 2 opposite or subopposite triangular bractlets near the base of the pedicel; leaf lower surface punctate with stalked red glands | |
21 Leaves membranaceous or subcoriaceous, deciduous or evergreen, if subcoriaceous and evergreen, then not shiny and dark green above. | |
28 Capsules ovoid to globose or subglobose, about as long as broad, or broader than long, 2-7 mm long. | |
33 Leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate, 8× or more as long as wide. strongly revolute, strongly whitened beneath; [subfamily Vaccinioideae; tribe Andromedeae] | |
33 Leaves broader, not revolute or slightly so, not strongly whitened below. | |
Key G7: trees with alternate, simple, unlobed, toothed leaves
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https://fsus.ncbg.unc.edu/main.php?pg=show-key.php&keyid=40721
2 Petiole flanged or winged (except C. reticulata, which sometimes lacks wings entirely), constricted at the base of the blade; fruit a hesperidium | |
3 Inflorescence a thin (superficially spike-like) thyrse; leaves linear-lanceolate, the petiole apex bearing 2 glands; seeds with a red aril; [waif, Escambia County, FL] | |
3 Inflorescence various, not a thyrse (if thin, then flowers arranged in catkins in FAGACEAE); leaves variously lanceolate, elliptic to ovate or rounded, the petiole apex not bearing 2 glands; seeds not bearing red arils; [widespread natives and non-natives] | |
5 Inflorescence of a solitary flower, axillary, 5-7 cm across; fruit a capsule, ca. 1 cm in diameter | |
6 Fruit an orange to yellow drupe, ultimately containing 4 seeds (from 2 paired nutlets); inflorescence a cyme | |
7 Leaves somewhat 2-ranked (subdistichous), the bases of the blades usually oblique; flowers yellowish-green, occasionally present on the trunks (plants cauliflorous), the trunks smooth and white, sometimes fluted (with irregular vertical ridges, at least on larger plants); [c. and s. FL only in our flora area] | |
8 Leaf margins serrate with one or a few stiff teeth (sometimes sharpish, but not spines), these usually towards the apex of the leaf and oriented somewhat ascendant; flowers catkins and apetalous (FAGACEAE) or bearing petals (Ehretia in EHRETIACEAE); fruit an acorn (not fleshy) or a drupe (somewhat fleshy). | |
1 Leaves deciduous. | |
10 Secondary veins neatly pinnate, the veins on each side of the midrib evenly spaced, parallel to one another, and extending nearly or actually to the leaf margin; fruit either a 1-seeded nut (dry, with or without samaroid wings, bracts, a subtending cupule, or an enclosing and valvate involucre) or a fleshy drupe with 2-4 stones. | |
10 Secondary veins not as above, usually arching and/or branching or reticulating well before reaching the leaf margin; fruit various. | |
16 Inflorescence terminal, a compound cyme; peduncles and pedicels becoming swollen, fleshy, and juicy at maturity; [plant rarely naturalized] | |
16 Inflorescence axillary, a solitary flower, a fascicle or cluster, or a cyme; peduncles and pedicels remaining stalk-like; [collectively widespread and common]. | |
17 Flowers bisexual; plants hermaphroditic; pith of mature twigs continuous without hollow sections between partitions. | |
19 Flowers white, showy, and often singular (the petals 12-20 mm long); fruit a red berry 10-15 mm in diameter; [uncommon non-native, s. FL] | |
19 Flowers either smaller yellowish-white cymes (Tilia) or unisexual pistillate heads or staminate catkins (Moraceae); fruit either nutlike and bearing a curved bract (Tilia) or a fleshy syncarp (Moraceae); [widespread native and non-natives] | |
20 Flowers bisexual; inflorescence an axillary cyme; fresh leaves and stems lacking white latex; fruit simple, a 1-seeded nut; main leaf veins splitting several times towards the leaf margin and leading into the teeth without rejoining and forming a marginal vein; basal veins 5, palmate, all joining together at the summit of the petiole; main lateral leaf veins (above the basal veins) often opposite; winter buds with 3 entire bud scales (1 much smaller than the other 2) | |
20 Flowers unisexual, the pistillate inflorescence a head, the staminate inflorescence a catkin, borne on the same tree (monoecious) or on separate trees (dioecious); fresh leaves and stems with white latex; fruit a multiple of fleshy achenes; main leaf veins splitting towards the margin but then rejoining to form a prominent, looping (scalloped) marginal vein; basal veins 3, palmate, sometimes an additional prominent vein on each side joining the lateral vein above its divergence from the petiole end; main lateral leaf veins (above the basal veins) mainly alternate; winter buds with 5 ciliate-margined bud scales | |
21 Inflorescence a terminal raceme of racemes, with more than 50 flowers; petals connate, urceolate; fruit a 5-valved capsule, < 6 mm in diameter; fresh leaves with a sour taste | |
21 Inflorescence various, either with < 30 flowers or if with > 50 flowers a catkin (with a single axis); corolla with separate petals (or petals absent); fruit various, fleshy or dry, if a 5-valved capsule (Franklinia in THEACEAE), then 15-20 mm in diameter; fresh leaves without a sour taste. | |
22 Pubescence simple (or absent). | |
23 Flowers less than 2 cm across; fruit either fleshy and indehiscent, a drupe, samara, or pome, or dry and dehiscent, an ovoid or lanceolate capsule < 0.7 cm in diameter. | |
24 Flowers unisexual, borne either in axillary catkins; trees dioecious; fruit either dehiscent, a lanceoloid or ovoid capsule (SALICACEAE) or indehiscent, a samara (Eucommia ulmoides). | |
24 flowers bisexual (unisexual in Ilex in AQUIFOLIACEAE), borne variously in terminal or axillary clusters, cymes, racemes, or umbels, but not at all catkin-like; trees hermaphroditic (dioecious in AQUIFOLIACEAE); fruit indehiscent, a fleshy drupe or pome with 1-many seeds. | |
26 Pith of twigs with transverse diaphragms and also continuous between the diaphragms (make a longitudinal section of twig and use at least 10× magnification; look for translucent diaphragms spaced at < 1 mm apart, with whiter pith tissue between them); fruit distinctly longer than broad, a 1-seeded drupe | |
26 Pith of twigs lacking diaphragms, continuous and homogeneous; fruit either suborbicular to spherical or pear-shaped, either a several- to many-seeded pome, or a berry-like drupe with 4-8 seeds, or a 1-seeded drupe. | |
27 Vascular bundle scars 1 in each leaf scar; fruit a berrylike drupe with 4-8 bony pyrenes; ovary superior, the calyx persistent at the base of the fruit | |
27 Vascular bundle scars (2-) 3 in each leaf scar; fruit a pome or 1-seeded drupe; ovary either inferior and the calyx persistent at the summit of the fruit (Amelanchier, Crataegus, Malus, Pyrus) or superior and the calyx not at all persistent at the base of the fruit (Prunus) |