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.

............ ......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]

............ ........11 Flowers in cymose or thyrsoid inflorescences.

............ ..........12 Inflorescences thyrsoid; calyx lobes inconspicuous; leaves evergreen; domatia present in secondary vein axils; [of ne. FL southward]

............ ............ 13 Lateral veins 3-6 on either side of the midvein; fruit white; petals yellowish, > 6 mm long; [subfamily Cinchonoideae; tribe Chiococceae]

............ ............ 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]

............ ............ ..14 Leaves opposite

............ ............ ....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.

............ ............ ........17 Corolla 5-lobed

............ ............ ........17 Corolla 4-lobed.

............ ............ ..........18 Capsule longer than the calyx tube; flowers blue, pink, or white

............ ............ ..........18 Capsule not longer than the calyx tube; flowers white

............ ............ ......16 Carpels 1-seeded.

............ ............ ............ 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.

............ ............ ............ ......22 Carpels opening transversely

............ ............ ............ ......22 Carpels opening longitudinally

1 Leaves deciduous (medium to pale green, thin in texture); leaves strictly opposite.

..2 Leaves 10-70 cm wide, cordate or subcordate at the base; flowers 5-merous, bilaterally symmetrical, large (20-70 mm long), the petals connate into a tube; fruit a capsule.

....3 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)

....3 Flowers lavender; capsules ellipsoid, < 2× as long as wide; leaf undersurface with branched (dendritic or stellate) hairs; nectar glands absent

..2 Leaves 1-12 cm wide, cuneate to rounded at the base; flowers 4-6-merous, radially symmetrical, small to medium (< 25 mm long), the petals either connate into a tube or separate and clawed; fruit a drupe or capsule.

......4 Leaves with prominently parallel-arcing secondary veins; corolla 4-merous, < 8 mm long, white to cream; inflorescence a many-flowered corymb or head; flowers white to cream; fruit a drupe

......4 Leaves with complexly branching secondary and tertiary veins; corolla 5-6-merous, 12-25 mm long, either greenish-yellow and mottled with purple, or white, pink, or purple; inflorescence a few-flowered cyme or many-flowered cymose panicle; fruit a capsule.

........5 Leaves 2.5-7 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide; petals separate, clawed, 12-20 mm long (including the 6-9 mm long claw), white, pink, or purple; calyx remaining small and sepaloid (3.5-5 mm long); capsule 4-6-valved; [introduced, persistent from planting in upland to moist situations]

1 Leaves evergreen (dark green or gray-green, thick in texture); leaves opposite or subopposite (offset by < 2mm from the opposing leaf).

..........6 Mangroves, with one of various adaptations to growing in tidal or near-tidal, saline situations: prominent salt-excreting glands on the petiole (Laguncularia in COMBRETACEAE), or prop roots (Rhizophora in RHIZOPHORACEAE), or abundant pneumatophores (Avicennia in ACANTHACEAE); [FL and less commonly subtropical shores of other, especially Gulf Coast, southeastern states].

............ 7 Leaves broadly elliptic, light green on both surfaces, rounded to broadly cuneate at the base, rounded and often retuse at the tip; petiole with 2 prominent salt-excreting glands; plants with neither prop-roots from the trunk and branches, nor pneumatophores from the roots

............ 7 Leaves narrowly elliptic, dark green above, cuneate at the base, acute to obtuse at the tip; petiole without salt glands; plants with either prop-roots from the trunk and branches, or pneumatophores from the roots.

............ ..8 Plants with numerous pneumatophores ascending from the roots and terminating in a blunt tip; leaves gray on the undersurface

............ ..8 Plants with prominent prop-roots descending to the ground from the trunk and branches; leaves light green on the undersurface

..........6 Non-mangroves; [collectively widespread].

............ ....9 Secondary leaf veins relatively few, further branching and reticulating into the tertiary vein structure; [collectively widespread].

............ ......10 Leaves strictly opposite, blue- or gray-green on both surfaces, suborbicular (about as wide as long), strongly aromatic when fresh

............ ......10 Leaves opposite or subopposite (offset by < 2mm from the opposing leaf); dark green above, pale green below; oblancolate, elliptic, or ovate (distinctly longer than wide), not aromatic when fresh

............ ........11 Twigs with spines; leaf venation with 3 primary veins from near the blade base; fruit a spherical berry, 5-12 cm long

............ ........11 Twigs lacking spines; leaf venation pinnate; fruit an elliptical drupe, < 2.5 cm long

............ ....9 Secondary leaf veins very many, closely parallel to one another and extending unbranched to the leaf margin.

............ ..........12 Leaves elliptic, widest near the midpoint of the blade, ca. 2× as long as wide; flowers in axillary thyrses; fruit a 1-seeded drupe, 2-4 cm long

............ ..........12 Leaves spatulate, widest towards the broadly rounded tip, ca. 1.2-1.6× as long as wide; flowers terminal on the branches, 1-3; fruit a leathery capsule, (4-) 6-9 (-12)-valved, 5-8 cm long