Key to Nemacladus

View taxon page for Nemacladus

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

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

1. Fruit 

circumscissile 

Dehiscence, usually of a fruit (capsule), by a transverse line, the top coming off as a lid.

; plants 

prostrate 

Lying flat on the ground.

..... N. californicus

1' Fruit valvate; plants 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

or 

ascending 

Curving or angling upward from base, or about 30-60 degrees less than vertical or away from axis of attachment.

2. Ovary superior in fruit; fruit 2–3 × > sepals ..... N. longiflorus

3. Corolla 3–3.5 mm, tube 1.5–2.5 mm; filaments ± 2–3 mm ..... var. breviflorus

3' Corolla 5–10 mm, tube 2.5–5.5 mm; filaments 3.5–7.5 mm ..... var. longiflorus

2' Ovary partly to completely inferior in fruit; fruit < or ± > sepals

4. Stem < 1 cm; inflorescence generally head-like ..... N. twisselmannii

4' Stem generally > 1 cm, 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

, 

decumbent 

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

, or erect; inflorescence an open 

raceme 

In flowering plants excluding Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, an unbranched inflorescence in which the flowers are borne on pedicels and nearly always open from the bottom to the top of the inflorescence. 2. In Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, a raceme-like inflorescence is one in which the inflorescence units (e.g., heads in Asteraceae; spikelets in Cyperaceae and Poaceae), instead of individual flowers, are stalked and attached directly to the main axis of the inflorescence, not to branches, and in which floral development may or may not proceed as in 1.

5. Stem below branches silver-gray, rarely dark; corolla white or cream with yellow and maroon marks or yellow, pink, or ± brown tips

6. Flower not inverted, adaxial corolla 

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.

3, abaxial 2; filaments declined, straight or tips ± curved; leaves 

entire 

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

..... N. rubescens

6' Flower inverted, adaxial corolla lobes 2, abaxial 3; filaments arched over, strongly curved; leaves toothed or pinnately lobed ..... N. tenuis

7. Corolla lobes dissimilar, adaxial 2 

linear 

Elongate, with nearly parallel sides; narrower than elliptic or oblong.

, arched, maroon, abaxial lobes yellow, central oblong-elliptic, flanking abaxial ones ± 

reniform 

Kidney-shaped; often pertaining to a leaf in which the blade base on both sides of the petiole is rounded and concave.

..... var. aliformis

7' Corolla lobes similar, oblong-elliptic, white, tips pink or ± yellow ..... var. tenuis

5' Stem below branches ± red, brown, or dark purple, not silver-gray; corolla white, cream, pink, lavender, or ± purple, with dark maroon marks or not

8. Corolla white or cream with darker marks, divided ± to base, tube 0

9. Fruit base rounded, top 

acute 

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

; sepals spreading or 

reflexed 

Abruptly bent or curved downward or backward.

10. Corolla lobes 1.3–2.5 mm ..... N. orientalis

10' Corolla lobes 0.2–0.5 mm ..... N. rigidus

9' Fruit base acute, top acute, ± pointed, or rounded; sepals erect

11. Pedicel straight, base to tip; sepals ± 0.5 mm; corolla lobes 0.7 mm ..... N. capillaris

11' Pedicel straight near base, curved at tip; sepals ± 2 mm; corolla lobes 2–4 mm

12. Filaments 2 mm; fruit 2–2.5 mm; seed 0.5 mm, with clearly pitted rows; 

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).

 blades irregularly 

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.

..... N. interior

12' Filaments 3 mm; fruit 2.5–3 mm; seed 1 mm, with deeply impressed, vertical lines; leaf blades entire or obscure-toothed ..... N. montanus

8' Corolla white or pale lavender, midvein on lobes sometimes pink, lavender, or maroon, otherwise without darker marks, divided 1/3–1/2 to base, tube bell-shaped or 

cylindric 

Elongate, with parallel sides and, at any point, round in transverse section.

13. Corolla tube narrow- or wide-cylindric ..... N. secundiflorus

14. Corolla tube 0.5–0.8 mm; leaf 2–3 mm, 

elliptic 

In the shape of a flattened circle or ellipse; wider than linear

..... var. robbinsii

14' Corolla tube 2.5–3.5 mm; leaf 3–6 mm, oblanceolate ..... var. secundiflorus

13' Corolla tube bell-shaped

15. Corolla lobes all held on adaxial side of flower, bases of 2 lowest fused into spur ..... N. calcaratus

15' Corolla lobes radiating or ± held on abaxial side of flower, bases of 2 lowest ± fused, not forming spur

16. Inflorescence axis strongly zigzag

17. Pedicel straight except curved up below tip; leaves toothed or pinnately lobed; bracts linear to 

lanceolate 

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

..... N. glanduliferus

17' Pedicel S-curved; leaves entire or irregularly 

dentate 

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

; bracts 

ovate 

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

..... N. sigmoideus

16' Inflorescence axis straight or weakly zigzag

18. Anthers 0.5 mm, filaments ± 2 mm; bracts 2–4 mm, 

recurved 

Gradually curved downward or backward.

; corolla white to lavender, midvein on lobes lavender; fruit base acute, tip rounded ..... N. gracilis

18' Anthers 0.1–0.3 mm, filaments 0.7–2 mm; bracts 2–9 mm, erect or 

appressed 

Parallel or nearly parallel to and often in contact with surface of origin; used to describe the disposition of hairs, leaves, pedicels, etc.

; corolla white or ± pink; fruit bulging near base or not, tip acute

19. Bracts ascending, appressed to 

pedicel 

Stalk of an individual flower in an inflorescence, or the corresponding structure in fruit.

base; pedicel straight, tip hooked upward abruptly; fruit base, tip acute ..... N. pinnatifidus

19' Bracts erect, not appressed to pedicel base; pedicel ± S-curved or straight, tip erect; fruit bulging near base ..... N. ramosissimus

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