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| 1 Lianas. |
| ..2 Lianas climbing by adventitious roots |
| ..2 Lianas climbing by twining or by tendrils. |
| ....3 Lianas climbing by twining |
| ....3 Lianas climbing by tendrils. |
| ......4 Tendrils branched, leaf-opposed; leaves mostly 5-7-lobed, the margins also serrate or dentate |
| ......4 Tendrils simple (though paired in Smilax in SMILACACEAE), axillary; leaves 3-lobed, the margins entire, serrulate, or prickly. |
| ........5 Leaves longer than wide, entire or prickly-margined; stems armed with prickles; flowers 6-merous, greenish, in umbels borne in leaf axils; tendrils stipular, 2 per leaf axil, adnate to the petiole basally |
| ........5 Leaves wider than long, entire or serrulate; stems not armed; flowers 5-merous, blue-purple or yellow, solitary or in small fascicles in leaf axils; tendrils 1 per leaf axil |
| 1 Trees or shrubs. {add: Vernicia in EUPHORBIACEAE, Firmiana in MALVACEAE, Kalopanax in ARALIACEAE, Ficus in MORACEAE} |
| ..........6 Trees. |
| ............ 7 Leaves > 3 dm long and wide; tree monopodial, with a single, unbranched stem (rarely with a few branches). |
| ............ ..8 Leaf lobes > 15, not sublobed; venation of each lobe parallel; fruit a drupe, with 1 seed; [Monocots] |
| ............ ..8 Leaf lobes < 13, most of these sublobed; venation of each lobe pinnate; fruit either a many-seeded berry or a single-seeded nutlet; [Eudicots]. |
............ ....9 Petiole attachment marginal; leaf lobes mostly sublobed; fruit a large berry, with many seeds |
| ............ ....9 Petiole attacment peltate; leaf lobes not sublobed; fruit an nutlet, single-seeded |
| ............ 7 Leaves < 3 dm long and wide; tree branching; [Eudicots]. |
| ............ ......10 Leaves 2-lobed (deeply notched at the apex, each lobe separated by the midvein, asymmetrical; [peninsular FL and s. TX] |
| ............ ......10 Leaves 3-5 (-7) lobed; [collectively widspread]. |
| ............ ........11 Leaf blades (3-) 5 (-7) lobed, to 15 cm wide and long, each lobe finely serrate-crenate (>3 teeth per cm of margin) and rarely with a small sub-lobe; multiple fruit spherical and spiky, consisting of multiple bird-beak-like loculicidal capsules; buds axillary |
| ............ ........11 Leaves 3 (-5)-lobed, to 35 cm wide and long, each lobe coarsely toothed or sublobed, the teeth or sublobes (at most 1-2 per cm of margin) attenuate-acuminate; multiple fruit spherical and merely rough on the surface, consisting of multiple achenes with tawny bristles; buds infrapetiolar (completely hidden in the swollen petiole base) |
| ..........6 Shrubs. |
| ............ ..........12 Leaf lobe margins entire (or undulate to sublobed at the tip) |
| ............ ..........12 Leaf lobe margins serrate. |
| ............ ............ 13 Leaves glabrous |
| ............ ............ 13 Leaves pubescent (slightly or strongly). |
| ............ ............ ..14 Pubescence of simple hairs; plants armed or not with nodal spines |
| ............ ............ ....15 Leaves 10-30 cm long and wide; fruit a berry; inflorescence of solitary to a few flowers, or a raceme |
| ............ ............ ....15 Leaves 2-10 cm long and wide; fruit an aggregate of drupelets; inflorescence a cyme |
| ............ ............ ..14 Pubescence of stellate hairs; plants unarmed. |
| ............ ............ ......16 Leaves > 30 cm wide |
| ............ ............ ......16 Leaves < 15 cm wide |