Key to Scrophulariaceae

View taxon page for Scrophulariaceae

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

1. Shrub or tree

2. Flowers white to yellow or purple; parts generally in 4s; leaves generally 

opposite 

1. Arranged in pairs along an axis - e.g., two leaves per node. 2. Occurring in the same rank, directly above or below, as 'stamens opposite petals'. 3. Located directly across from.

..... BUDDLEJA

2' Flowers white, purple-dotted; parts generally in 5s; leaves 

alternate 

1. Arranged singly, often spirally, along an axis - e.g., one leaf per node. 2. Occurring in different ranks, appearing to be between, not directly above or below, as 'stamens alternate petals'.

..... MYOPORUM

1' Annual to 

perennial 

Completing life cycle (germination through death) in more than two years or growing seasons, generally non-woody (at least above ground) to woody; includes perennial herbs as well as subshrubs to trees; the abbreviation 'per' only refers to perennial herb, not to the word 'perennial' alone.

 herb (shrubby)

3. Annual, plant generally < 30 cm, 

scapose 

Pertaining to a plant or an inflorescence in which a relatively long peduncle (scape) arises, sometimes with leaf- or scale-like bracts but without true foliage leaves, from a rosette or other arrangement of leaves at ground level.

; generally ± aquatic or of wet habitats ..... LIMOSELLA

3' Biennial, perennial herb (shrubby), 30–200 cm, not scapose, inflorescence a 

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.

or 

panicle 

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.

; plants generally of drier habitats

4. Stem square in ×-section; corolla 

bilateral 

Divisible into mirror-image halves in only one way.

, pale green to dark red or black; stamens 4, staminode 1; inflorescence generally a panicle ..... SCROPHULARIA

4' Stem round in ×-section; corolla ± 

radial 

Divisible into mirror-image halves in three or more ways.

, yellow or white (purple); stamens 5, staminode 0; inflorescence a raceme or panicle ..... VERBASCUM

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