| 1. Corolla 817 mm, limb 610 mm wide; calyx 59.5 mm |
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| 2. Leaves 35-lobed; calyx hairs spreading |
| V. gooddingii |
| 2' Leaves 12-pinnately dissected; calyx hairs appressed |
| V. tenuisecta |
| 1' Corolla 1.56 mm, limb < 5 mm wide; calyx 2.54 mm |
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| 3. Flower bract 48 mm, 23 mm > calyx; most stems prostrate to decumbent |
| V. bracteata |
| 3' Flower bract 14.5 mm, generally < calyx; most stems ascending to erect |
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| 4. Most cauline leaf blades 12-lobed (lobes below middle 825 mm deep), toothed |
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| 5. Herbage sparsely strigose; calyx minutely strigose |
| V. menthifolia |
| 5' Herbage and calyx short-spreading-(generally soft-)hairy |
| 2 V. lasiostachys |
| 6. Leaf surface grayish green above, hairs generally soft; nutlet scar brownish at 20× |
| var. lasiostachys |
| 6' Leaf surface green above, hairs generally stiff; nutlet scar white-papillate at 20× |
| var. scabrida |
| 4' Most cauline leaf blades generally unlobed (except some V. hastata), teeth 28 mm |
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| 7. Lower and mid-cauline petioles generally 12.5 cm, sometimes narrowly winged |
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| 8. Petioles, inflorescence axis, and calyx short-spreading-(generally soft-) hairy |
| 2 V. lasiostachys (see 6. for vars.) |
| 8' Petioles, inflorescence axis, and calyx strigose or scabrous |
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| 9. Fruits generally overlapping (axis with 810 fruits per cm); upper surface of leaves rough-puberulent to slightly scabrous |
| V. hastata |
| 9' Fruits not overlapping, especially below (axis generally with < 8 fruits per cm); upper surface of leaves strigose to scabrous |
| V. scabra |
| 7' Lower and mid-cauline petiole generally 0 (blade often clasping) |
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| 10. Fruits not overlapping (especially below middle); flower bracts 3.54 mm; calyx 44.5 mm; spikes 15 per cluster |
| V. californica |
| 10' Fruits overlapping; flower bracts 33.5 mm; calyx 33.5 mm; spikes generally 517 per cluster |
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| 11. Leaf base cordate to truncate, generally clasping; spikes ± 56 mm diam in fruit |
| V. bonariensis |
| 11' Leaf base ± acute, subsessile; spikes 34 mm diam in fruit |
| V. litoralis
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