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1 Plant a woody vine; [subfamily Aralioideae; tribe Schefflereae] |
1 Plant an herb, shrub, or tree. |
..2 Leaves simple, peltate or cordate, roundish (if lobed, with 3-5 rounded lobes), 0.3-10 cm wide; rhizomatous, creeping herbs; [subfamily Hydrocotyloideae] |
..2 Leaves either compound with 3-many leaflets or simple and then with 5-15 pointed lobes, > 10 cm wide; herbs, shrubs, or trees. |
....3 Leaves simple, palmately-lobed; [subfamily Aralioideae; tribe Schefflereae]. |
......4 Leaves 5-7-lobed (the lobes not themselves sublobed); tree, the branches armed with prickles |
......4 Leaves 7-15-lobed (the lobes themselves either sublobed or not); robust herb to shrub, the branches unarmed. |
........5 Leaves 7-9-lobed (the lobes not sublobed); ovary 5- or 10-carpellate; leaf blades glabrous beneath at maturity |
........5 Leaves 9-15-lobed (some of the lobes sublobed); ovary 2-carpellate; leaf blades densely pubescent beneath at maturity |
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..........6 Leaves 2-3× compound, at least the final order of division pinnate; leaves either 1 from a subterranean stem or 2-many, alternate on an aboveground stem; inflorescence compound, consisting of (2-) 3-many umbels, either on a separate peduncle from the rhizome or in a terminal panicle or raceme of umbels; fruit purple or black; [subfamily Aralioideae; tribe Aralieae] |
..........6 Leaves 1× palmately compound, leaflets 3-7; leaves 3-5 in a whorl at the summit of the stem ( Panax) or many, clustered on spur shoots ( Eleutherococcus); inflorescence of a single, simple umbel borne terminally on the stem; fruit red to yellow ( Panax) or black ( Eleutherococcus). |
............ 7 Plant a shrub, with prickles; fruit black; [subfamily Aralioideae; tribe Schefflereae] |
............ 7 Plant an herb, lacking prickles; fruit red or yellowish-green; [subfamily Aralioideae; tribe Aralieae]. |
............ ..8 Leaflets 3 (-5), sessile or subsessile, the petiolules 0-3 mm long; larger leaflets 4-8 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, averaging about 2.5× as long as wide, the apex obtuse to acute; fruit yellow-green when ripe, longitudinally winged and ribbed in ×-section; petals white (rarely tinged with pink); inflorescence nodding in bud; underground storage organ a spherical tuber |
............ ..8 Leaflets (3-) 5, petiolulate, the petiolules (7-) 10-25 mm long; larger leaflets 6-15 cm long, 3.5-7 cm wide, averaging about 1.8× as long as wide, the apex acuminate; fruit bright red when ripe, smoothly elliptical in ×-section; petals light green; inflorescence erect in bud; underground storage organ an elongate root, this vertical or horizontal, and sometimes branched |
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..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 usually obviously 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} |
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............ 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 attachment 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 widespread]. |
............ ........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) |
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............ ..........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 |
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..2 Leaf venation palmate, the leaf often lobed or at least pentagonal in shape (as well as serrate); plants climbing by leaf-opposed tendrils |
..2 Leaf venation pinnate, the leaf neither lobed nor pentagonal; plants climbing by other mechanisms (see below). |
....3 Plants climbing by axillary tendrils; [FL] |
....3 Plants climbing by adventitious roots, by twining, or by growing through bark layers of Taxodium ascendens or Chamaecyparis thyoides; [collectively widespread in our region]. |
......4 Plants climbing by adventitious roots; leaf base cordate or subcordate, and also slightly to strongly oblique |
......4 Plants climbing by twining, or by growing through bark layers of Taxodium ascendens or Chamaecyparis thyoides; leaf base cuneate, rounded, or cordate. |
........5 Leaves strongly cordate at the base, 7-15 cm wide |
........5 Leaves cuneate, rounded, or subcordate at the base, 0.3-8 cm wide. |
..........6 Leaf blades mostly 2-6 cm long, 0.3-2 cm wide; plants climbing by growing through bark layers of Taxodium ascendens or Chamaecyparis thyoides |
..........6 Leaf blades mostly 6-13 cm long, 3-8 cm wide; plants climbing by twining |
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............ 7 Stems with well-developed prickles; tendrils paired, stipular (diverging from the leaf petiole above its base); [Monocots] |
............ 7 Stems lacking prickles; tendrils either absent or (if present) not stipular and paired; [Eudicots or Basal Angiosperms]. |
............ ..8 Plant climbing by dense, reddish adventitious roots |
............ ..8 Plant climbing by twining or by tendrils. |
............ ....9 Plant climbing by tendrils |
............ ....9 Plant climbing by twining. |
............ ......10 Leaves elliptic or ovate, obviously longer than broad, most leaves > 1.4× as long as wide; leaf blade base narrowly cuneate, broadly cuneate, rounded, or subcordate. |
............ ........11 Leaves 3-8 cm long, rounded to broadly cuneate at the base and rounded or obtuse at the apex; lateral leaf veins straight, parallel, not forking; inflorescence a terminal thyrse or panicle |
............ ........11 Leaves 6-15 cm long, cuneate at the base and acuminate at the apex; lateral leaf veins forking at or beyond the middle; inflorescence a solitary, axillary flower |
............ ......10 Leaves orbicular to very widely ovate, most leaves < 1.4× as long as wide; leaf blade base deeply cordate, subcordate, rounded, or broadly cuneate |
............ ..........12 Leaf venation pinnate, but “pseudopalmate”, with 3 primary veins from the marginal point of attachment of the petiole, the 2 lateral veins then promptly rebranching (< 1 cm from the leaf base) into 2-3 prominent veins (the remainder of the venation pinnate along the midvein); basalmost pair of primary veins exposed (lacking leaf tissue) on their basal side for > 2 mm; leaf blade base deeply cordate; leaf with no tendency to lobing, the leaf outline convex from the base to the apex (except in the immediate vicinity of the petiole and sometimes immediately near a slightly acuminate apex |
............ ..........12 Leaf venation palmate, with (3-) 5-9 primary veins from the marginal or peltate point of attachment of the petiole, these primary veins then rebranching well above the leaf base; basalmost pair of primary veins completely included within leaf tissue; leaf blade base cordate, subcordate, rounded, or broadly cuneate; leaf with a tendency to lobing, the leaf outline with 1 or more concave areas between the base and the apex (except Cissampelos of s. FL) |