ILLUSTRATED KEY TO MISC. SMALL DICOT FAMILIES ADOXACEAE GERANIACEAE ANACARDIACEAE HALORAGACEAE APOCYNACEAE HYPERICACEAE ARALIACEAE LENTIBULARIACEAE BALSAMINACEAE LINACEAE BERBERIDACEAE MALVACEAE BETULACEAE MONTIACEAE CACTACEAE NYCTAGINACEAE CAMPANULACEAE NYMPHAEACEAE CANNABACEAE OLEACEAE CAPRIFOLIACEAE PAPAVERACEAE CELASTRACEAE POLEMONIACEAE CISTACEAE POLYGALACEAE CLEOMACEAE RHAMNACEAE CONVOLVULACEAE RUBIACEAE CORNACEAE SANTALACEAE CRASSULACEAE SAPINDACEAE DROSERACEAE SOLANACEAE ELAEAGNACEAE ULMACEAE EUPHORBIACEAE URTICACEAE GENTIANACEAE Compiled and writen by Linda Kershaw & Lorna Allen April 2019 These keys were compiled using informaton primarily from Moss (1983), Douglas et. al. (1999-2000) and provisional treatments on the Flora North America website. Taxonomy follows VASCAN (Brouillet, 2015). Please let us know if there are ways in which the key can be improved. The 2015 S-ranks of rare species (S1; S1S2; S2; S2S3; SU, according to ACIMS, 2015) are noted in superscript (S1;S2;SU) afer the species names. For more details go to the ACIMS web site. Similarly, exotc species are followed by a superscript X, XX if noxious and XXX if prohibited noxious (X; XX; XXX) according to the Alberta Weed Control Act (2016). © Linda J. Kershaw & Lorna Allen ADOXACEAE Moschatel Family [Caprifoliaceae, in part] Key to Genera 01a Plants herbaceous, delicate, musk-scented herbs, 6-18 cm tall; fowers 5, in cube-shaped clusters (1/side + on top); fruits green, dry 1a ‘berries’ (drupes) with 3-5 nutlets .......... ..................Adoxa moschatellina 01b Plants woody shrubs; fowers numerous, in branched clusters; fruits juicy, red or black ‘berries’ (drupes) with 1 nutlet ...........02 02a Leaves pinnately divided into 5-7 leafets .... ..................Sambucus racemosa 2a 02b Leaves undivided (simple), maple-like ...... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ........................... Viburnum → VIBURNUM Bush-cranberry 01a Flower clusters 5-15 cm across, borne on branches with 2 pairs of leaves, 2 types of fowers, 15-20 mm wide sterile (→) outer fowers and 3-4 mm wide fertile central fowers; shrubs, (1)2-4(5) m tall; leaves without glands, deeply 3-lobed (mostly) . Viburnum opulus 01b Flower clusters 1-3 cm across, borne on 1a branches with 1 pair of leaves, all fowers 4-7 mm wide and fertile; shrubs 0.5-1.5(2) m tall; leaves with sparse, tiny glands beneath, 1b shallowly 3-lobe .........Viburnum edule 2 ANACARDIACEAE Sumac Family 1a Key to Genera 01a Plants herbaceous (woody at the base), 10- 40 cm tall, with single stems from creeping rootstocks; leafets 3-15 cm long; fruits white, hairless ........ Toxicodendron radicans* ..........[Rhus radicans var. rydbergii] 01b Plants woody shrubs, 100-200 cm tall, much branched, not toxic; leafets 1-3(4) cm long; fruits red, glandular-hairy ................ ........ Rhus aromatica [Rhus trilobata] * Caution! This plant causes severe skin reactions in most people. If you think a plant is poison-ivy 1b (T. radicans) avoid contact with exposed skin. 3 APOCYNACEAE Milkweed Family [includes Asclepiadaceae] Key to Genera 01a Flowers unusual, with 5 down-turned lobes below a 5-lobed crown (corona), in umbrella- shaped clusters (umbels) .......Asclepias 01b Flowers bell-shaped, 5-lobed, in fat-topped, 1a repeatedly branched clusters (cymes) ...... 1b .......................... Apocynum - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - APOCYNUM Dogbane 1a 01a Stem leaves drooping or spreading, with stalks often >5 mm long; petals pinkish, (4)6-10 mm long, usually 2X as long as the sepals, with tips spreading to down-curved; seeds 2.5-4 mm long ... Apocynum androsaemifolium 01b Stem leaves angled upwards, with stalks 0-5 mm long; petals greenish-white, 2-5(6) mm long, usually <2X as long as the sepals, with tips pointing upwards; seeds 4-6 mm long ... 1b ...............Apocynum cannabinum - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ................ [Apocynum sibiricum] ASCLEPIAS Milkweed 01a Flowers purplish or pinkish, with petals 7-12 mm long and hoods 8-15 mm long; leaves oblong or oval, rounded to notched at the base; pods with soft, conical outgrowths (→) (tubercles) ...........Asclepias speciosa → → 01b Flowers green or greenish white (sometimes 1a purplish at the centre), with petals 4-5 mm long and hoods 2-5 mm long; leaves lance- to egg- shaped, rounded to tapered at the base; pods without tubercles .....................02 2a 02a Corona hoods without visible horns; fower clusters stalkless; plants usually sprawling; 2b southern prairie, near the US border ....... ................ Asclepias viridifora S1 02b Corona hoods with visible, incurved horns; fower clusters stalked; plants erect; cAB to nwAB .............. Asclepias ovalifolia 4 ARALIACEAE Ginseng Family Key to Genera 01a Plants herbaceous, without spines, 30-60 cm tall; leaves single, 2X divided, frst into 3 and then into (3)5 leafets; mature fruits purplish- black .................Aralia nudicaulis 01b Plants woody shrubs, spiny throughout 1a (including leaves), 100-300 cm tall; leaves several, undivided, 5- to 7-lobed; mature fruits 1b scarlet ..............Oplopanax horridus 5 BALSAMINACEAE Balsam Family IMPATIENS Jewelweed 01a Leaves in rings (whorls) or pairs; fowers purple or blue to almost white ............. ............. Impatiens glandulifera XXX 01b Leaves alternate; fowers yellow to orange 02 1a 02a Lower sepal (sac) abruptly, convexly tapered to a spur, 15-18 mm long, ≥2/3 as wide as long; fowers ≤20(25) mm long, deep orange to yellow, unspotted or with coarse, red to orange (brown) spots or mottles mainly on the lower side of the sac. Impatiens capensis .................... [Impatiens bifora] 02b Lower sepal (sac) gradually, concavely tapered 2b to a spur, ±20 mm long, usually <1/2 as wide as long; fowers 20-30 mm long, yellow, fecked with small, sparse, dark red (brownish purple) dots mainly on the upper side of the sac .... ................ Impatiens noli-tangere 2a 6 BERBERIDACEAE Barberry Family 1a Key to Genera 01a Leaves evergreen, pinnately divided into 1b leafets; a native shrub of mountain woods in swAB ...Mahonia repens [Berberis repens] 01b Leaves shed in autumn (deciduous), simple; an invasive garden escape ............... ................. Berberis vulgaris XXX 7 BETULACEAE Birch Family Key to Genera 01a Fruits nuts, enclosed in stiff-hairy/bristly bracts (involucre) fused, forming a long beak; ♀ fowers with bright red stigmas, few, in tiny, bud-like catkins; ♂ fowers in elongated catkins, 1 per bract ...... Corylus cornuta 01b Fruits tiny nutlets, often winged, in the axils of (and covered by) catkin bracts; ♂ and ♀ fowers numerous, in catkins; ♂ fowers usually 3 per bract. .02 1a 1b 02a Bracts of ♀ catkins thin, 3-lobed, soon shed; stamens 2 ......................Betula 02b Bracts of ♀ catkins thick and woody, persistent; stamens 4 .......................Alnus 2a 2b - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ALNUS Alder 01a Nutlet wings >1/2 as wide as the nutlet body; leaf-buds stalkless, covered by unequal, overlapping scales; fowers appearing with the leaves on this-year’s twigs; leaves shining; shrubs 1-3 m tall ........Alnus alnobetula . ............ [Alnus viridis; Alnus crispa] 1a 01b Nutlet wings absent or very narrow; leaf-buds stalked, covered by 2-3 ± equal scales; fowers appearing before the leaves; leaves dull; tall shrubs or small trees 2-8 m tall. .........Alnus incana [Alnus tenuifolia] 1b - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BETULA Birch 01a Trees; mature bark peeling, white to reddish (rarely brown); nutlet wings wider than the 1b body ..............................02 01b Small trees or tall shrubs; mature bark tight (not 1a peeling), dark reddish brown to brown; nutlet wings narrower than the body. .03 8 02a Twigs with few to dense long hairs, rarely a few small resinous glands; leaves egg-shaped, 2a rounded to squared at base, broadly pointed or abruptly tapered at the tip, hairy beneath (especially along veins) and often with tufts of hairs in vein axils; catkin scales with side lobes ≤ the tip lobe; mosty well-drained, mesic to dry habitats, throughout AB . Betula papyrifera 02b Twigs hairless, with conspicuous resinous glands; leaves broadly egg-shaped to almost triangular, squared to wedge-shaped at base, tipped with a slender, tapered point, hairless or sparsely hairy beneath (without tufts of hairs in vein axils); catkin scales with side lobes longer than the tip lobe; usually in moist to wet 2b habitats, c to ne AB .... Betula neoalaskana 03a Tall shrubs or small trees, 3-6(10) m tall; bark shiny dark reddish brown to bronze; leaf blades edged with sharply to broadly pointed teeth; catkin scales edged with hairs, the central lobe much shorter than the side lobes ...................Betula occidentalis 03b Small to medium shrubs, 0.5-3(4) m tall; bark dull reddish brown to brown; leaf blades edged with blunt to rounded teeth; catkin scales 3a usually hairless, variously lobed ........ 04* 04a Leaf blades 0.5-1(1.2) cm long, round to kidney-shaped, rounded to slightly notched at the base, rounded at the tip, edged with simple scalloped teeth, hairless beneath, sometimes with a few small resinous glands; catkins 0.5- 1.2 x 0.5-0.7 cm; shrubs sprawling to low upright (<1 m tall); northernmost AB ........ ....................... Betula nana SU 4a 04b Leaf blades 1--5(7) cm long, elliptic to broadly egg-shaped or nearly round, wedge-shaped to rounded at the base, broadly acute to rounded at the tip, edged with distinctly to obscurely double, sharp to rounded teeth, hairless