Field Key to VCR Plant Species
Subection XVII. Herbaceous Plants with Simple Alternate Leaves
without Lobes or Teeth
- 1a. Leaves and stems wooly or hairy.
- 2a. Leaves typically restricted to plant's base and lower stem; yellow dandelion-like
flower clusters two or more times longer than wide; stem slender and stiftly erect.....Hairy Hawkweed, Hieracium gronovii
(HRCGRN).
- 2b. Leaves present along entire stem.
- 3a. Flowers whitish or yellowish tube-flowers in many-flowered heads; leaf
bases often winged down the stem.
- 4a. Flower heads in round clusters; leaves clasping, aromatic; stems
several, reclining or erect to 60 cm.....Rabbit Tobacco / Cotton-baiting, Gnaphalium chilense
(GNPCHL).
- 4b. Flower heads in dense globular corymbs; leaves not winged down
stem; plant 10-150 cm. tall.....Sweet Everlasting / Catfoot, Gnaphalium obtusifolium
(GNPOBT).
- 4c. Flower heads in a terminal spike; often several stemmed; plant
10-30 cm. tall.....Rabbit Tobacco / Purple Catfoot, Gnaphalium purpureum
(GNPPRP).
- 3b. Flowers not whitish nor yellowish tube-flowers in many-flowered heads; leaf
bases not winged down the stem.
- 5a. Leaves fleshy, flat on one side, rounded on the other, finely hairy,
deep green turning pinkish purple in the fall. Oherwise, characeristics the same as Suaeda linearis
(lOa. below).....Hairy Smotherweed, Bassia Hirsuta
(BSSHRS).
- 5b. Leaves not fleshy, both sides flat, oblong; tiny white flowers in the racemes.....Spring Forget-me-not, Myosotis verna
(MYSVRN).
- 1b. Only leaves densely hairy, on both sides, oval- to oblong-shaped; yellow bell-like flower
with dark center; fruit inside balloon-like husk or bladder formed from sepals.....Maritime Ground-cherry, Physalis viscosa var. maritima
(PHYVSC).
- 1c. Leaves and stems both not wooly or hairy.
- 6a. Leaves fleshy.
- 7a. Stems prostrate, jointed; leaves and stems whitish; leaves narrowly oblong,
1-3 cm. long; pink flowers growing singly or in small axil clusters.....Seabeach Knotweed, Polygonum glaucum
(PLYGLC).
- 7b. Stems erect.
- 8a. Leaves oblong or oval, silvery-mealy, under 5 cm. long; green axil
fbwers; fruit enclosed between 2 wedge-shaped bracts; stem low
and widely branched.....Seabeach Orach, Atriplex arenaria
(ATRARN).
- 8b. Leaves linear.
- 6b. Leaves not fleshy.
- 11a. Stem jointed, weakly erect, part immediately above joint sheathed; small flowers in loose and more-or-less interrupted spikes, pink or purplish but sometimes white
or greenish; plant 15-90 cm. tall.....Mild Water Pepper, Polygonum hydropiperoides
(PLYHYD).
- 11b. Stem not jointed.
- 12a. Stem thick, stout, succulent, hollow; flowers white or pinkish in racemes; berries dark purple and juice stains fingers; plant branching, over 1 m. tall.....Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana
(PHYAMR).
- 12b. Stem not thick, stout, succulent, hollow.
- 13a. Flowers in small corymbs, yellow; plant 45-60 cm. tall; leaves long and thin; abundantly branched top.....Small-headed or Bush Goldenrod, Solidago microcephala
(SLDMCR).
- 13b. Flowers in curved, one-sided clusters, together forming large
terminal cluster, yellow; basal and lowest stem leaves conspicuously larger than the rest of the leaves; stem leaves decreasing rapidly in size upwards; leaves oblong or lance-shaped; plant 30-
150 cm. tall.....Seaside Goldenrod, Solidago sempervirens
(SLDSMP).
- 13c. Flowers in racemes or spikes.
- 14a. Leaves egg-shaped, in basal rosette and along stem; flowers
very small, long-stalked, white; plant 10-45 cm_ tall; often
found in very shallow water.....Water Pimpernel, Samolus parviflorus
(SMLPRV).
- 14b. Leaves narrow and 1-3 cm. long; flowers blue with conspicuous white palate and long slender spur beneath; raceme slender;
plant 10-60 cm. tall.....Blue Toadflax, Linaria canadensis
(LNRCND).
- 13d. Flowers singly along spreading branches, yellow, 5 wedge-shaped petals; leaves oblong or lance-shaped.
- 15a. Flowers small (less than 1 cm. wide); plant 15-75 cm. tall.....Wild Yellow Flax, Linum virginianum var. floridanum
(LNMVRG).
- 15b. Flowers large (1-4 cm. wide); plant 15-60 cm. tall.....Frostweed / Rockrose, Helianthemum canadense
(HLNCND).
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