Directory       News       Site Map       Home
    Jepson eFlora
Key to families | Table of families and genera



Annual to subshrub; sap clear; generally monoecious; hairs 0 or generally 2-branched, generally appressed. Stem: spreading to erect, 1–10 dm. Leaf: alternate, stipuled. Inflorescence: raceme, axillary; staminate flowers generally distal to pistillate flowers; axis appressed- to spreading-hairy; bracts entire. Staminate flower: sepals 5, edges abutting in bud; petals 5; stamens 5–15, generally in 2 sets, some > others, filaments fused into a column, staminodes 0–3 at column tip. Pistillate flower: sepals 5, overlapping in bud; petals 5; nectar disk ± dissected; ovary 3-chambered, styles 3, 2-lobed. Fruit: smooth. Seed: surface ± striate to pitted [net-like]; scar not appendaged.

Key to Ditaxis

1. Plant glabrous ..... D. serrata var. californica

1' Plant hairy, hairs 2-forked and appressed, occasionally simple or glandular

2. Margin of stipules, bracts, and pistillate sepals stalked-glandular; inflorescence axis minutely spreading-hairy ..... D. claryana

2' Margin of stipules, bracts, and pistillate sepals glabrous or faintly glandular, glands not stalked; inflorescence axis appressed-hairy

3. Subshrub, stems brittle; pistillate sepals ± = petals; fruit appressed-hairy; style lobes expanded ..... D. lanceolata

3' Annual or perennial herb (occasionally woody at base), stems not brittle; pistillate sepals clearly > petals; fruit ± spreading-hairy; style lobes not expanded

4. Seeds angled in ×-section, clearly pitted; leaves lanceolate, not densely hairy, entire to faintly toothed ..... D. neomexicana

4' Seeds round in ×-section, ± striate, not clearly pitted; leaves widely elliptic to ovate, densely hairy, clearly toothed distally ..... D. serrata var. serrata

