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Keyed in multiple places:

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Key to Cephalanthus

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1 Outer surface of the calyx glabrous (or the tube with a few long white hairs near the base); [widespread in our region]
1 Outer surface of the calyx densely pubescent with short, appressed hairs; [extreme s. TX only]

Key to Rubiaceae

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1 Trees, shrubs, or woody vines.
..2 Prostrate or climbing woody vines (lianas), or sprawling shrubs.
....3 Leaf bases cordate, rounded, or truncate; leaves usually cordate, ovate, or deltoid shaped (occasionally hastate or broadly elliptic); corolla pale lilac colored; [non-native, se. US including FL; tribe Paederieae]
....3 Leaf bases cuneate to rounded but not cordate; leaves oblanceolate, lanceolate or linear; corolla white or yellow; [native, FL].
......4 Flowers and fruit sessile or subsessile; fruit yellow
......4 Flowers and fruit borne on pedicels or peduncles; fruit white
..2 Shrub or tree, plants upright.
........5 Inflorescence spherical or globular, in a tight round head; [collectively widespread]
..........6 Fruits dry, dehiscent; [subfamily Cinchonoideae; tribe Naucleeae]
..........6 Fruits fleshy, indehiscent; [subfamily Rubioideae; tribe Morindeae]
........5 Inflorescence cymose, thyrsoid, or corymbose (the inflorescence more open, not round and compact); [Coastal Plain, from s. SC southward].
............ 7 Plants with paired spines.
............ ..8 Corolla lobes 4; leaves to ca. 1 cm long; fruit ca. 5 mm long
............ ..8 Corolla lobes 5; leaves ca. 2-5 cm long ; fruit ca. 10 mm long
............ 7 Plants unarmed, not bearing spines or thorns.
............ ....9 Flowers orange-red; leaves usually whorled; [subfamily Cinchonoideae; tribe Hamelieae]
............ ....9 Flowers white, green, or maroon; leaves opposite.
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
............ ......10 Leaves linear, revolute, and strongly congested; [FL keys southward]
............ ......10 Leaves broad, not linear, nor strongly congested; [collectively more widespread]
............ ........11 Flowers solitary, terminal; [subfamily Ixoroideae; tribe Gardenieae]
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
............ ........11 Flowers in cymose or thyrsoid inflorescences.
image of plant
Show caption*© Scott Ward
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
............ ..........12 Inflorescence cymose; some calyx lobes expanded into pink or reddish “flags”; leaves deciduous; domatia not present; [of s. SC southward]; [subfamily Ixoroideae; tribe Condamineeae]
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
............ ..........12 Inflorescences thyrsoid; calyx lobes inconspicuous; leaves evergreen; domatia present in secondary vein axils; [of ne. FL southward]
image of plant
Show caption*© Sequoia Janirella Wrens, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Sequoia Janirella Wrens
image of plant
Show caption*© Keith Bradley
............ ............ 13 Lateral veins 3-6 on either side of the midvein; fruit white; petals yellowish, > 6 mm long; [subfamily Cinchonoideae; tribe Chiococceae]
image of plant
Show caption*© Alan M. Cressler
............ ............ 13 Lateral veins 8-14 on either side of the midvein; fruit red; petals white, <5 mm long; [subfamily Rubioideae; tribe Psychotrieae]
1 Herbs (or creeping subshrubs in Mitchella).
............ ............ ..14 Leaves whorled; [subfamily Rubioideae; tribe Rubieae]
............ ............ ....15 Flowers paired, the ovaries connate and developing into a single fleshy red fruit; leaves roundish; creeping subshrub; [subfamily Rubioideae; tribe Mitchelleae]
............ ............ ....15 Flowers single or in inflorescences with multiple flowers, the fruits either dry or fleshy and yellowish or black; leaves various; herb; [subfamily Rubioideae; tribe Spermacoceae].
............ ............ ......16 Carpels with few to many seeds.
............ ............ ..........18 Capsule longer than the calyx tube; flowers blue, pink, or white
............ ............ ..........18 Capsule not longer than the calyx tube; flowers white
............ ............ ............ 19 Flowers in dense, terminal, involucrate heads; flowers 4- or-6-lobed; styles 3
............ ............ ............ 19 Flowers in axillary or terminal clusters, or single in axils, not involucrate; flowers 4-lobed; styles 2.
............ ............ ............ ..20 Flowers usually solitary in leaf axils; fruit separating into 2 parts.
............ ............ ............ ....21 Sepals 4 and similar in size; style entire; [of dry habitats]
............ ............ ............ ....21 Sepals 2 (or 4, and then markedly dimorphic); style cleft; [of moist to wet habitats]
............ ............ ............ ..20 Flowers in terminal and axillary clusters; fruits not separating into 2 parts.

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
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