Key to Eryngium

View taxon page for Eryngium

(For a list of species in Eryngium, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Plant stout, 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

; bracts and sepals blue-tinged; inner bracts lobed at or distal to middle ..... E. articulatum

1' Plant slender to stout, 

prostrate 

Lying flat on the ground.

to erect; bracts and sepals green, styles or anthers occasionally blue; inner bracts not lobed

2. Bract margins thickened, marginal spines 0

3. Leaf generally unlobed, margin sharply 

serrate 

Having margins with sharp, fine to coarse teeth generally pointing tipward, not outward; margins with such teeth on such primary teeth are doubly serrate.

to irregularly cut ..... E. armatum

3' Leaf pinnately to bipinnately lobed

4. Plant 

decumbent 

lying mostly flat on the ground but with tips curving up.

, ± green; main stem branched 1–6 cm distal to 

rosette 

A radiating cluster of leaves generally at or near ground level.

; SCo ..... E. pendletonense

4' Plant erect, silvery; main stem branched 7–32 cm distal to rosette; n&c SNF ..... E. pinnatisectum

2' Bract margins not thickened, at least outer generally with spines

5. Leaf 

blade 

Expanded portion of a leaf, petal, or other structure, generally flat but sometimes rolled, cylindric, wavy, or cupped.

>> 

petiole 

Leaf stalk, connecting leaf blade to stem; sometimes more or less indistinct.

, deeply pinnately or bipinnately lobed, 

lobes 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

broad to narrow

6. Sepals pinnately lobed or toothed to 

entire 

Having margins that are continuous and smooth (i.e., without teeth, lobes, etc.).

, 

lanceolate 

Narrowly elongate, widest in the basal half, often tapered to an acute tip.

, 

tapered 

Gradually (not abruptly) narrower or smaller at base or tip.

to tip-spine

7. Bracts spiny on margin and abaxial surface; fruit scales lanceolate, 

acuminate 

Having a long-tapered, sharp tip, the sides concave.

..... E. castrense

7' Bracts spiny on margins only, or 0–few abaxially; fruit scales 

oblong 

Longer than wide, with nearly parallel sides; wider than linear.

to 

ovate 

Egg-shaped (i.e., widest below the middle) in two dimensions (i.e., in one plane), as a leaf.

, 

acute 

Having a short-tapered, sharp tip, the sides convex or straight and converging at less than a right angle.

..... E. spinosepalum

6' Sepals generally entire, ovate, abruptly narrowed to tip-spine ..... E. vaseyi

8. Main stem branching 1–5 cm distal to rosette; sepal tips erect; n SNF, se ScV, ne SnJV ..... var. vallicola

8' Main stem 0, plant branched within rosette; sepal tips generally 

reflexed 

Abruptly bent or curved downward or backward.

; SCoRO ..... var. vaseyi

5' Leaf blade < petiole or petiole ± 0, 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

spiny-margined to 

dentate 

Having margins with sharp, relatively coarse teeth pointing outward, not tipward.

, serrate or irregularly cut, lobes 0 or shallow, broad

9. Plant prostrate or decumbent, with roots and juvenile leaves at 

nodes 

Position on a stem from which one or more structures (especially leaves, buds, branches, or flowers) arise.

; inflorescence raceme-like ..... E. racemosum

9' Plant decumbent to erect, not rooting nor with juvenile leaves at nodes; inflorescence cyme-like

10. Bracts with many spines on margins and abaxial surface ..... E. mathiasiae

10' Bracts with 0 or few spines on abaxial surface

11. Main stem generally 0, plant branched within rosette; 

basal 

At or near the base of a plant or plant part. Especially said of leaves clustered near the ground or of a placenta confined to the base of an ovary.

leaves generally > branches ..... E. alismifolium

11' Main stem present, branched distal to base; basal leaves < branches

12. Plant densely 

puberulent 

Minutely hairy.

throughout; heads 5–7-flowered ..... E. constancei

12' Plant glabrous, or occasionally puberulent only on leaves or bracts; heads > 10-flowered

13. Plant stout, erect; leaf blade tapering to base, petiole obscure; sepal tip-spine generally 1–2 mm; outer bracts > 2 × inner bracts ..... E. jepsonii

13' Plant slender to stout, decumbent to erect; leaf blade abrupt-narrowed at base, < petiole; sepal tip-spine < 1 mm; outer bracts < 2 × inner bracts ..... E. aristulatum

14. Styles in fruit >> calyx; NCo, NCoR, ScV, SnFrB ..... var. aristulatum

14' Styles in fruit ± = calyx; SnFrB, SCoR, SW

15. Bract margins spiny ..... var. hooveri

15' Outer 

bract 

Reduced, leaf- or scale-like structure subtending a branch, cone scale, peduncle, pedicel, or flower.

margin spines 0–3 pairs, inner bract spines 0 ..... var. parishii

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