e-Key v3 - Key to MONOCOTYLEDON Families
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.
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  • Flowers white or otherwise brightly coloured; perianth wholly or partly petal-like
002
b
  • Flowers with perianth absent or papery, glumaceous to hyaline or sometimes herbaceous, or reduced to hairs or scales
002
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  • Ovary superior
GROUP 01
b
  • Ovary inferior or half-inferior
GROUP 02
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  • Aquatic herbs, free-floating or submerged
GROUP 03
b
  • Land plants, sometimes rooting in water
002
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  • Flowers (florets) arranged in small spikes (spikelets) subtended or enclosed by bracts; grasses or grass-like plants
GROUP 04
b
  • Flowers not arranged in spikelets
GROUP 05
GROUP 01
(Flowers white or otherwise brightly coloured; perianth wholly or partly petal-like; ovary superior)
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  • Aquatic or marsh herbs
002
b
  • Land plants, sometimes rooting in water
002
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  • Perianth of 6 petal-like tepals in 2 whorls, blue, white or yellow; gynoecium with an ovary of 3 fused carpels
Pontederiaceae
b
  • Perianth of 3 coloured sepals or tepals, often accompanied by 3 herbaceous sepals; gynoecium composed of 2-many ± free carpels
002
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  • Flowers in a simple or 2-branched spike; perianth in a single whorl of 1-3 white to pink tepals
Aponogetonaceae
b
  • Flowers whorled or in simple or compound umbels; plants often with white sap
002
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  • Carpels each with 1 basal ovule; fruit of 3-many achenes
Alismataceae
b
  • Carpels each with many ovules on a parietal/marginal placenta; fruit a head of follicles
Limnocharitaceae
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  • Perianth composed of separate calyx and corolla, the calyx usually herbaceous
002
b
  • Perianth composed of similar or subsimilar tepals, all petal-like
002
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  • Style simple; ovary 2- or 3-locular; flowers in open to congested cymes, with conspicuous corolla often blue or yellow, often subtended by folded or boat-shaped bracts
Commelinaceae
b
  • Style branched; ovary 1-3-locular; flowers small, crowded in bracteate heads or spikes on long, leafless peduncles
002
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  • Flowers unisexual; corolla inconspicuous to minute; ovary 3- or 2-locular
Eriocaulaceae
b
  • Flowers bisexual; petals mostly yellow to white; ovary 1-locular
Xyridaceae
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  • Stamens 3; rootstock often bright orange-red
Haemodoraceae
b
  • Stamens 6; sometimes outer whorl without anthers
002
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  • Anthers dehiscing by an apical pore, often unequal; filaments short, inserted at mouth of perianth tube; rootstock a corm
Tecophilaeaceae
b
  • Anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits (these rarely very short but then plants leafless); rootstock a rhizome, bulb or tuber
002
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  • Fruit a fleshy berry or drupe
002
b
  • Fruit a capsule
002
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  • Leaves with 2 basal tendrils; flowers unisexual; plants dioecious
Smilacaceae
b
  • Leaves without basal tendrils; flowers bisexual
002
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  • Leaf tips narrowing into a coiled tendril
Flagellariaceae
b
  • Leaf tips not as above
002
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  • Flowers crowded in dense racemes or panicles, longer than 20 mm, tubular below, with exserted stamens; leaves large, tough and crowded; plants rhizomatous or tree-like
( Convallariaceae in part)
Dracaenaceae
b
  • Flowers few in axillary racemes or cymes, shorter than 10 mm; plants shrubby or scandent
002
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  • Leaves reduced to scales with a spiny or soft spur; cladodes needle-shaped or leaf-like and without distinct cross-connections between parallel veins
Asparagaceae
b
  • Leaves with many prominent parallel veins with distinct cross-connections
( Behniaceae )
Luzuriagaceae
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  • Flowers in umbels subtended by 2 spathaceous bracts and borne on naked peduncles
002
b
  • Flowers in spikes or racemes
002
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  • Flowers perfectly regular with stamens spreading, or anthers sessile; capsule ovoid; plants usually smelling of onion or garlic; rootstock a bulb or rhizome
Alliaceae
b
  • Flowers slightly irregular with stamens declinate and recurved at tips; capsule 3-angled or -winged; plants not smelling of onion or garlic; rootstock a rhizome
Agapanthaceae
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  • Rootstock a bulb
002
b
  • Rootstock a rhizome, corm or tuber
002
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  • Flowers borne on leafy stems; bulb with loose scales
* Liliaceae
(in narrow sense)
b
  • Flowers borne on naked peduncles; bulb rarely with loose scales
Hyacinthaceae
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  • Seeds woolly; flowering stems leafless except for a clasping basal leafy bract; leaves petiolate, often absent at flowering; rootstock a tuber
( Convallariaceae in part)
Eriospermaceae
b
  • Seeds glabrous; flowering stems leafy
002
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  • Rootstock a corm, rarely a tuber; seeds brown; flowers usually opposite the bracts
Colchicaceae
b
  • Rootstock a rhizome, sometimes short and with swollen roots; seeds black; flowers in axils of bracts
002
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  • Flowers borne singly in axils of bracts
Asphodelaceae
b
  • Flowers more than 1 in axils of bracts
(including Hemerocallidaceae in part)
Anthericaceae
GROUP 02
(Flowers white or otherwise brightly coloured; perianth wholly or partly petal-like; ovary inferior or half-inferior)
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  • Submerged aquatics rooting from a rhizome; flowers mostly unisexual, submerged or floating
Hydrocharitaceae
b
  • Terrestrial plants or emergent aquatics, but then rootstock cormous and stamens 6
002
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  • Fertile stamens 5(6) or 1, but then supported by and not fused to the style; leaves pseudopetiolate with a broad base, midrib prominent and secondary veins pinnate-parallel
002
b
  • Fertile stamens 3(4)6 or 1, but then fused to the style into a complex columnar structure; leaf venation never pinnate-parallel
002
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  • Fertile stamen 1
002
b
  • Fertile stamens 5(6)
002
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  • Outer tepals united into a tube; anther 2-thecous; filament thread-like
Zingiberaceae
b
  • Outer tepals free; anther 1-thecous; stamen partly petal-like
* Cannaceae
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  • Flowers unisexual, upper 5 tepals fused below; leaves spirally inserted; stems not woody, drying after fruiting, sometimes suckering; fruit a banana with seeds embedded in pith
Musaceae
b
  • Flowers bisexual, lateral inner tepals fused and enclosing style and stamens; leaves distichous; stems and rootstock perennial; seeds pea-like with a tuft of hairs
Strelitziaceae
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  • Stamen 1, united with style into a column (gynostemium); pollen agglutinated into masses (pollinia); upper or lower median tepal often elaborated and spurred
Orchidaceae
b
  • Stamens 3(4) or 6; pollen not agglutinated into masses
002
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  • Flowers unisexual, in spikes or racemes; climbers with ± heart-shaped leaves
Dioscoreaceae
b
  • Flowers bisexual
002
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  • Stamens 3, opposite outer tepals; leaves mostly unifacial; rootstock a corm or rhizome
Iridaceae
b
  • Stamens 6 or 3, but then opposite inner tepals
002
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  • Inflorescence apparently an umbel (sometimes 1-flowered), subtended by 1 or more spathaceous bracts and borne on a naked scape; rootstock a bulb or rhizome
Amaryllidaceae
b
  • Inflorescence a corymb, raceme, panicle, cyme or 1-flowered, not subtended by spathaceous bracts; rootstock a corm or rhizome (rarely reduced)
002
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  • Small saprophytic herbs with a few narrow basal leaves or leaves scale-like
Burmanniaceae
b
  • Photosynthetic plants with well-developed leaves
002
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  • Robust, rosulate plants with tree-like inflorescences and large, spine-tipped, leathery or succulent leaves persisting for several years
* Agavaceae
b
  • Smaller plants, often coarsely hairy; leaves never spine-tipped
002
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  • Flowers many, in helicoid cymes borne on bracteate stalks; ovules 1 or 2 per locule
002
b
  • Flowers mostly solitary or few borne on leafless scapes or pedicels; ovules many per locule
002
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  • Stamens 3; pubescence of simple hairs; rhizome often bright red
Haemodoraceae
b
  • Stamens 6; pubescence of plumose hairs
Lanariaceae
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  • Shrublets or short-stemmed perennials; leaves fibrous, abscising below, persistent bases stiffly fibrous and closely imbricate; flowers solitary, purple to mauve or white, with septal nectaries; seeds white to yellowish
Velloziaceae
b
  • Acaulescent perennials; leaves softer, decaying irregularly, bases loosely fibrous and not regularly imbricate; flowers 1 to many, yellow, white pink to red, without nectaries; seeds black
Hypoxidaceae
GROUP 03
(Aquatic herbs, free-floating or submerged (flowers sometimes emergent); perianth absent or cupular or scale-like to well developed)
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  • Plants floating freely on the surface, though sometimes attached to the substrate in very shallow water
002
b
  • Plants rooted or freely suspended with leaves submerged or floating
002
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  • Small, ± disc-shaped to globular annuals not differentiated into stems and leaves; flowers borne in pouches or sheaths
( Araceae in part) Lemnaceae
b
  • Rosette-forming, stoloniferous herbs with oblong, hairy leaves; flowers borne on a small spadix surrounded by a tubular spathe
Araceae
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  • Gynoecium composed of 2 or more free carpels with separate styles and stigmas
002
b
  • Gynoecium composed of 1 carpel or of 2 or more united carpels with free or united styles
002
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  • Perianth absent or cupular; stamens 1 or 2
002
b
  • Perianth present, composed of 1-4 free tepals; stamens 3-many
002
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  • Flowers bisexual, in spikes above water at anthesis, spikes consisting of 2 naked flowers facing in opposite directions and borne at different heights; carpels 4-8, becoming stipitate in fruit and appearing umbellate; stamens 2, free
Ruppiaceae
b
  • Flowers unisexual, submerged, axillary, cymose or solitary; carpels 1-9, stipitate; stamens 1 or 2, united
002
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  • Marine plants, dioecious; pollen filamentose
Cymodoceaceae
b
  • Brackish or freshwater plants, monoecious; pollen globose
Zannichelliaceae
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  • Leaves borne on elongated stems; tepals usually 4; inflorescence a simple spike not enclosed in a spathe when young
Potamogetonaceae
b
  • Leaves all basal; tepals 1-3; inflorescence a 2-branched or simple spike at first enclosed in a spathe
002
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  • Flowers in a 2-branched or simple spike on an elongated axillary peduncle at first enclosed in a spathe; flowers without bracts
Aponogetonaceae
b
  • Flowers whorled or in simple or compound umbels; plants often with white sap
002
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  • Carpels each with 1 basal ovule; fruit of 3-many achenes
Alismataceae
b
  • Carpels each with many ovules on a parietal placenta; fruit a head of follicles
Limnocharitaceae
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  • Perianth present; ovary inferior, 1-locular with many ovules on parietal placentas; flowers mostly unisexual, submerged in marine species, exserted during anthesis in others; male flowers sometimes becoming detached and free-floating
Hydrocharitaceae
b
  • Perianth absent; ovary superior, with a solitary ovule
002
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  • Leaves opposite or verticillate, often toothed; flowers solitary or few together in leaf axils; freshwater plants
Najadaceae
b
  • Leaves alternate; inflorescence a spike of alternating male and female flowers enclosed in a spathe; marine plants
Zosteraceae
GROUP 04
(Flowers (florets) arranged in small spikes (spikelets) subtended or enclosed by bracts; grasses and grass-like plants)
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  • Leaves reduced to sheaths with free margins; plants dioecious; florets with a perianth of 6 tepals in 2 whorls
Restionaceae
b
  • Leaves usually with a well-developed blade and a sheathing base; plants very rarely dioecious; florets mostly with 2-6 scale-like bracts or bristles
002
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  • Leaves 2-ranked; leaf sheaths usually with free, overlapping margins; stems terete or compressed, usually with hollow internodes; style branches and stigmas usually 2, feathery; anthers deeply sagittate and therefore appearing dorsifixed
Poaceae
b
  • Leaves often 3-ranked, mostly crowded in a basal tuft; leaf sheaths usually closed; stems often 3-angled, with solid internodes; style branches and stigmas 2 or 3, not feathery; anthers basifixed
Cyperaceae
GROUP 05
(Land plants, sometimes rooting in water; perianth glumaceous to hyaline, or sometimes herbaceous, or reduced to bristles or scales)
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  • Leaves pinnately or palmately compound; palms
Arecaceae
b
  • Leaves simple
002
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  • Inflorescence a very dense cylindrical spike with female florets below and male ones above; perianth segments reduced to bristles
Typhaceae
b
  • Inflorescence various, not as above
002
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  • Inflorescence a dense fleshy spike (spadix) subtended by a conspicuous or long, leaf-like spathe
002
b
  • Inflorescence various, not a spadix
002
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  • Leaves arranged in 2 vertical rows, not differentiated into petiole and blade; spathe leaf-like, much longer than spadix
* Acoraceae
b
  • Leaves alternate, differentiated into petiole and blade; spathe conspicuous, of various colours
Araceae
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  • Perianth segments herbaceous; fruit separating into 3 cocci; leaves radical
Juncaginaceae
b
  • Perianth segments dry and glumaceous to hyaline; leaves basal, cauline or reduced to sheaths; plants often rush-like
002
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  • Tufted herbs with radical leaves and small to minute flowers crowded in terminal, compact, head-like inflorescences borne on naked peduncles
002
b
  • Combination of characters not as above
002
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  • Flowers unisexual; ovary 3- or 2-locular
Eriocaulaceae
b
  • Flowers bisexual; ovary 1-locular
Xyridaceae
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  • Leaves reduced to sheaths; flowers unisexual, sexes on separate plants; ovary 1- or 3-locular with 1 ovule per locule
Restionaceae
b
  • Leaves with blades; flowers bisexual; ovary 1-3-locular with 3 or more ovules per locule
002
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  • Plants caulescent, up to 2 m or higher, with apical leaf rosette; leaves serrate; ovules few; stigmas sessile or subsessile
( Juncaceae in part)
Prioniaceae
b
  • Plants rhizomatous, with basal, entire leaves; ovules many; style short or long
Juncaceae

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