e-Key v3 - Key to GYMNOSPERM Families
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.
Backtrack a
  • Leaves 2, opposite, permanent, sprawling on the ground and often torn lengthwise by the wind
 Welwitschiaceae
b
  • Leaves indefinite in number, produced in succession from apex of stems
 002
Backtrack a
  • Palm- or fern-like plants with fibrous stems or trunks, or stemless with a tuberous rootstock
 002
b
  • Trees or shrubs with hardwood stems and simple leaves along branches
 002
Backtrack a
  • Stemless, somewhat fern-like plants with a tuberous rootstock
  • Leaves deciduous from their base
  • Leaflets with midrib and dichotomously branched lateral veins
 Stangeriaceae
b
  • Stems above and below ground, covered with persistent leaf bases, sometimes up to 10 m tall, with a crown of palm-like leaves
 Zamiaceae
Backtrack a
  • Leaves small and scale-like
  • Ovules/seeds borne between scales of a rounded woody, rarely fleshy cone
 Cupressaceae
b
  • Leaves well developed, linear to awl-shaped or needle-like
 002
Backtrack a
  • Dioecious trees or shrubs
  • Leaves linear to narrowly ovate
  • Ovules/seeds 1 or 2 borne on a receptacle (often swollen and fleshy), not in cones
 Podocarpaceae
b
  • Monoecious trees or shrubs
  • Leaves needle-like, linear or awl-shaped
  • Ovules/seeds borne in cones
 002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves mostly needle-like, 1 or few united at base by a membranous sheath
  • Female cones with many spirally arranged scales, leathery or fleshy at first, mostly becoming stiff and woody later, each bearing 2 ovules/seeds
 *Pinaceae
b
  • Leaves mostly linear to broadly awl-shaped, without a basal sheath, spirally arranged but sometimes appearing 2-ranked
  • Female cones with 5-30 scales, free when young but closely fused later, each bearing 2-9 ovules
 *Taxodiaceae

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