User:Sesamehoneytart/Monocot Woody

Key to the woody monocotyledons of Tennessee

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Key to the Woody Monocots

 * Smilax: Vines climbing with tendrils. Stems are usually prickly.
 * 1: Plants erect and not climbing. Tendrils absent and stems are not prickly.

1

 * Arundinaria: Stems slender and bamboo-like. Often several meters tall with prominent nodes.
 * Yucca: Stems stout and not bamboo-like. Rarely over two meters tall. Leaves blades thick, narrowly tapering toward the end, and spirally arranged, growing from the base.

Arundinaria

 * Arundinaria gigantea: No or only 1 compressed basal internode.
 * ARU1: Two to five compressed basal internodes.

ARU1

 * Arundinaria appalachiana: Leaves are deciduous, papery thin, and with barely visible cross veins.
 * Arundinaria tecta: Leaves are tough and leathery with obvious cross veins.

Smilax

 * Smilax glauca: Leaves grayish and covered with the underside covered with a whitish waxy substance.
 * SMI1: Leaves green without a whitish waxy substance on the underside

SMI1

 * Smilax tamnoides: Stem prickles needle-like and abundant.
 * SMI2: Stem prickles broadest at the base and scattered.

SMI2

 * Smilax laurifolia: Lower third of leaf midrib elevated and more prominent than the lateral veins. Leaves thick and evergreen.
 * SMI3: Leaf midrib neither elevated nor distinctly different from lateral veins.

SMI3

 * Smilax bona-nox: Edge of leaf blade with a thickened band and usually spiny.
 * SMI4: Edge of leaf blade without a thickened band. Blade entire to serrulate, but not spiny.

SMI4

 * Smilax rotundifolia: Berries bluish black. Leaves and petioles sometimes have small tooth-like projections. Leaves are evergreen
 * Smilax walteri: Berries are red. Leaves and petioles do not have small tooth-like projections. Leaves are deciduous.

Yucca

 * Yucca flaccida: Inflorescence branches are hairy. Tepals are less than five centimeters long.
 * Yucca filamentosa: Inflorescence branches don't have hair. Tepals are over five centimeters long.