What’s a dichotomous key?
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- Group 1Lycophytes, Monilophytes
- Group 2Gymnosperms
- Group 3Monocots
- Group 4Woody angiosperms with opposite or whorled leaves
- Group 5Woody angiosperms with alternate leaves
- Group 6Herbaceous angiosperms with inferior ovaries
- Group 7Herbaceous angiosperms with superior ovaries and zygomorphic flowers
- Group 8Herbaceous angiosperms with superior ovaries, actinomorphic flowers, and 2 or more distinct carpels
- Group 9Herbaceous angiosperms with superior ovaries, actinomorphic flowers, connate petals, and a solitary carpel or 2 or more connate carpels
- Group 10Herbaceous angiosperms with superior ovaries, actinomorphic flowers, distinct petals or the petals lacking, and 2 or more connate carpels
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- Dichotomous Key
- Liliaceae
Liliaceae
See list of 8 genera in this family-
1a. Tepals white and spotted with red or purple on the adaxial surface, the outer 3 prominently saccate at the base; each style apically bifid, maculate
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1b. Tepals variously colored, but not white with dark spots, not prominently saccate; styles neither bifid near apex nor spotted
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2a. Tepals green-yellow, green-white, or pink (red-purple to purple in the rare hybrid Streptopus ×oreopolus), 0.6–1.6 cm long; fruit a berry; stems arising from rhizomes (the rhizomes tuberous in Medeola)
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3a. Styles 3, distinct; tepals recurved from near the base; leaves borne on an aerial stem in 1 or 2 whorls
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3b. Style 1, the stigma obscurely lobed to 3-parted; tepals spreading or recurving from near the middle; leaves all basal or alternate
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4a. Flowers in an umbel at the summit of a scape, with green-yellow tepals; leaves all basal; fruit a blue berry
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4b. Flowers solitary or paired in the axils of foliage leaves, with green-white, pink, or red-purple to purple tepals; leaves borne alternately on an aerial stem; fruit a red berry
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2b. Tepals yellow, orange, red or white, (1.3–) 1.5–10 cm long; fruit a capsule; stems arising from bulbs or corms
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5a. Leaves appearing all basal (actually borne on a slender, mainly subterranean stem), usually mottled with lighter markings; capsules 12–15 mm tall (up to 22 mm tall in the naturalized E. albidum); spring ephemerals, the above-ground portions of the plant usually senescing by July
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5b. Leaves borne on the stem ( Gagea with both basal and stem leaves), not mottled; capsules 15–77 mm tall (shorter in Gagea, but that species usually with 3–5 flowers per inflorescence); plants persisting through the summer in typical years
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6a. Anthers mesifixed; tepals with basal nectaries; stems with usually more than 5 leaves, whorled (alternate in 1 species)
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6b. Anthers basifixed; tepals without basal nectaries; stems with 2–5 alternate leaves or 2 opposite leaves
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7a. Stigmas sessile; stems with 2–5 alternate leaves; tepals 20–82 mm long
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7b. Stigmas elevated on a style; stems with 2 opposite leaves; tepals 13–17 mm long
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Show photos of: Each photo represents one genus in this family.