BALSAMINACEAE, the Touch-me-not Family 



Smooth herbs, with alternate simple leaves and showy flowers; 

 one petal-like sepal prolonged into a spur; fruit explosive when ripe 

 (510 dm. high; summer). 



la. Flowers pale-yellow, with a few red-brown spots 



Touch-me-not, Impatiens pallida. 

 Ib. Flowers orange, thickly spotted with red-brown 



Touch-me-not, Impatiens biflora. 



RHAMNACEAE, the Buckthorn Family 



Shrubs, with simple leaves and small flowers in axillary or 

 terminal clusters in early summer; sepals, petals, and stamens each 

 4 to 5, or petals none. 



la. Leaves with a single mid-vein; flowers in axillary clusters, green- 

 ish (Buckthorn) 2. 

 Ib. Leaves with 3 5 principal veins; flowers in dense terminal 



clusters, white (Red-root) 3. 



2a. Lateral veins 34 pairs (stout shrub, frequently thorny, 



escaped from cultivation) Buckthorn, ii 1m in mis cathartica. 



2b. Lateral veins 6 9 pairs (1 m. high or less; in swamps and 



bogs) Buckthorn, Rhamnus alnifolia. 



3a. Leaves ovate, rounded or cordate at the base, 2 5 cm. wide or 



more (48 dm. high) Red-root, Ceanothus americanus. 



3b. Leaves elliptical-lanceolate, 2 cm. wide or less (3 8 dm. high) 



Red-root, Ceanothus oratus. 



YITACEAE, the Grape Family 



Shrubs, climbing by tendrils or hold-fast roots, with palmately 

 lobed or palmately compound leaves and small greenish flowers in 

 panicles or flattened clusters; petals and sepals each 4 or 5; fruit 

 a berry. 



la. Leaves compound (summer) (Virginia Creeper) 2. 

 Ib. Leaves simple (late spring) (Grape) 4. 



2a. Branches of the tendrils chiefly ending in adhesive disks 3. 

 2b. Branches of the tendrils twining, or rarely with a few disks 



Virginia Creeper, Psedera yitacea. 

 3a. Stem and foliage glabrous 



Virginia Creeper, Psedera quinquefolia. 

 3b. Stem and foliage pubescent, at least when young 



Virginia Creeper, Psedera quinquefolia Yar. hirsute. 

 4a.- Leaves conspicuously pubescent beneath 5. 

 4b. Leaves glabrous beneath when mature, or pubescent on the 

 veins only 6. 



