Field Key to VCR Plant Species
Subsection XIV. Herbaceous Plants with Opposite or Whorled
Leaves having Lobes or Teeth
- 1a. Leaves compound, fernlike fronds.....see XIII. 1.b.
- 1b. Leaves deeply lobed.
- 2a. Lobes irregularly lobed, often appear compound but not frondlike; irregular segments narrow, themselves irregularly toothed or lobed; staminate flower heads green in 2-15
cm. long racemes; pistillate flowers green in small clusters; plant 1.8 m. tall.....Common Ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia
(AMBART).
- 2b. Lobes regular, palmate (like maple lobes); stem hairy; flowers pale pink or pale
purple, 5 petals indented at the tips, in close clusters; plant 15-50 cm. tall.....Carolina Cranesbill, Geranium carolinianum
(GRNCRL).
- 1c. Leaves toothed, not lobed, not compounded.
- 3a. Leaves whorled, lance-shaped; teeth shallow; plant 30-90 cm. tall; flowers in
dense whorls, 2-3 cm. long, yellowish with purple spots and surrounded with
conspicuous whitish or lilac bracts.....Horsemint, Monarda punctata
(MNRPNC).
- 3b. Leaves opposite, not whorled, lance-, elliptical-, or egg-shaped.
- 4a. Four wings per stem; leaves pointed at both ends, thin, often slightly
hairy beneath, flow into wings on the stem; flower heads slender, yellow,
numerous, with 1-5 ray flowers; plant 1-2 m. tall.....Crown-beard, Verbesina occidentalis (VRBOCC).
- 4b. No wings on stem.
- 5a. Stems hairy; small flower heads together form a broad otten flat,
terminal cluster; top of stem branches and rebranches to flower
heads; lower leaves stalkless or nearly so; teeth coarse but often blunt.
- 6a. Flowering branches drooping; stem red and very fuzzy, upper leaves usually greenish, deeply and narrowly divided; plant to
2 m. tall.....Dog-fennel, Eupatorium capillifolium
(EPTCPL).
- 6b. Flowering branches straight and do not droop.
- 7a. Upper leaves nearly toothless; larger leaves oblong, bluntish, with 3-12 teeth on eacn margin, plant 90-150 cm. tall.....Rough Boneset, Eupatorium pilosum
(EPTPLS).
- 7b. Upper leaves toothed; leaves smaller and more rounded than those of E. pilosum; plant 60-150 cm. tall......Round-leaved Boneset, Eupatorium rotundifolium
(EPTRTN).
- 5b. Stems smooth.
- 8a. Flowers in erect, continuous or interrupted spikes.
- 9a. Spikes numerous, branching off axil- stem sometimes somewhat hairy but hairs do not sting; leafblades to 15 cm. long and 7 cm. wide; flower parts green, indistinguishable; plant to 1.3 m. tall.....False Nettle, Boehemeda cylindrica
(BHMCYL).
- 9b. Spike terminal; stem squarish; flowers purplish with
broad protruding lower lip and apparently absent upper lip; plant 30-120 cm. tall.....American Germander/
Wood Sage, Teucrium canadense
(TCRCND).
- 8b. Flowers in long stalked heads, pink or bluish or white, surrounded by pointed bracts; stem weak, prostrate, sprawling
or ascending, often rooting at nodes; flower heads elongate and becoming cone-like later.....Frog-fruit, Lippia lanceolata
(LPPLNC).
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