Key to Lithospermum

View taxon page for Lithospermum

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

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

1. Annual; 

caudex 

Generally short, sometimes woody, more or less vertical stem of a perennial, at or beneath ground level.

0; corolla ± white (blue-white), tube with 5 vertical bands of hairs; fruit ± brown, wrinkled, ± tubercled, ± dull ..... L. arvense

1' Perennial herb; caudex ± woody; corolla ± yellow, tube without longitudinal bands of hairs; fruit white to gray, smooth to pitted, shiny

2. Corolla 15–35 mm, 10–20 mm diam, appendaged, 

lobe 

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.

 margin jagged; cleistogamous flowers present; se DMtns ..... L. incisum

2' Corolla 9–18 mm, 7–13 mm diam, appendages 0, 

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.

 

entire 

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

; cleistogamous flowers 0; KR, NCoRH, NCoRI, CaR, n SNH, MP

3. Flowers in open 

panicles 

1. In flowering plants excluding Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, a branched inflorescence in which the basal or lateral flowers (or some of them) open before the terminal or central flowers on any axis. 2. In Asteraceae, Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and some other groups, a panicle-like inflorescence is one in which at least some of the inflorescence units (e.g., heads in Asteraceae; spikelets in Cyperaceae and Poaceae), instead of individual flowers, are attached (stalked or unstalked) to branches and not directly to the main axis of the inflorescence and in which floral development may or may not proceed as in 1.

or 1 in upper 

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).

 axils; 

pedicels 

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

4–7 mm, 

recurved 

Gradually curved downward or backward.

in fruit; corolla 12–18 mm, 1.5–2 × calyx, golden yellow; heterostylous; leaf blades 

oblong 

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

to lance-ovate, few, scattered ..... L. californicum

3' Flowers in dense 

cymes 

1. In flowering plants excluding Asteraceae and some other groups, a branched inflorescence in which the central or uppermost flower opens before the peripheral or lowermost flowers on any axis. see 2. In Asteraceae and some other groups, a cyme-like inflorescence is one in which the central or uppermost inflorescence units (e.g., heads in Asteraceae, umbels enclosed by involucres in Eriogonum), instead of individual flowers, develop and mature before the peripheral or lowermost inflorescence units on any axis.

; pedicels 1–3 mm, ± 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

in fruit; corolla 9–12 mm, 1–1.5 × calyx, pale- to green-yellow; homostylous; leaf blades 

lanceolate 

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

to 

linear 

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

, many, crowded ..... L. ruderale

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