Small herbs with basal leaves and erect flower-stalks bearing a head of perfect yellow flowers, in summer.
1a. Base of plant bulbous-thickened (3-6 dm. high) =Yellow-eyed Gra.s.s, Xyris flexuosa.=
1b. Base of plant not bulbous-thickened (1-3 dm. high) =Yellow-eyed Gra.s.s, Xyris montana.=
COMMELINACEAE, the Spiderwort Family
Leafy-stemmed herbs; flowers with 3 sepals, 3 petals, and 6 stamens, lasting but a single day; petals blue.
1a. Stamens 6; petals all equal (Spiderwort) --2.
1b. Perfect stamens 3, sterile stamens 3; two of the petals larger than the third (3-6 dm. high; summer) =Day-flower, Commelina virginica.=
2a. Sepals villous (3-10 dm. high; late spring) =Spiderwort, Tradescantia virginiana.=
2b. Sepals glabrous, or with a tuft of hairs at the apex (4-10 dm.
high; late spring) =Spiderwort, Tradescantia reflexa.=
PONTEDERIACEAE, the Pickerel-weed Family
Aquatic herbs, with 6 rather conspicuous petals; flowers in summer.
1a. Flowers blue; leaves cordate-sagittate (3-10 dm. high) =Pickerel-weed, Pontederia cordata.=
1b. Flowers yellow; leaves linear (submerged) =Mud Plantain, Heteranthera dubia.=
JUNCACEAE, the Rush Family
Gra.s.s-like or rush-like plants, with inconspicuous greenish or brownish flowers, of 3 chaffy or scale-like sepals and as many similar petals.
1a. Leaf-sheaths closed; capsule 1-celled and 3-seeded; stem or leaves usually hairy at or near the base (1-4 dm. high). (Wood Rush) --2.
1b. Leaf-sheaths open; capsule many-seeded; plants never hairy --4.
2a. Flowers solitary at the ends of the branches of the umbel-like cl.u.s.ter (spring) =Wood Rush, Luzula saltuensis.=
2b. Flowers in spikes or dense cl.u.s.ters --3.
3a. Flower-cl.u.s.ter spike-like, nodding at the tip (summer) =Wood Rush, Luzula spicata.=
3b. Flower-cl.u.s.ter umbel-like (spring) =Wood Rush, Luzula campestris var. multiflora.=
4. The genus Juncus, or Rush, contains about 25 species in Michigan, blooming in summer or autumn. For their identification the Manuals should be consulted. One of the commonest species is Juncus effusus, growing in marshes, with erect leafless cylindrical stems, bearing a lateral cl.u.s.ter of flowers near the summit. Another common species is Juncus tenuis, with slender stems and linear leaves, growing in hard ground, especially in woodland paths.
LILIACEAE, the Lily Family
Herbs or twining shrubs, with generally conspicuous flowers; sepals and petals each 3, and usually colored alike, stamens 6, ovary 3-celled, superior. In one species the perianth is 4-parted and the stamens are 4.
1a. Flowers or flower-cl.u.s.ters lateral, axillary or apparently so --2.
1b. Flowers or flower-cl.u.s.ters scapose or terminal --12.
2a. Leaves minute and scale-like (7-15 dm. high; flowers greenish-yellow, June) =Asparagus, Asparagus officinalis.=
2b. Leaves broad and flat, not scale-like --3.
3a. Flowers numerous in rounded umbels; perianth-segments nearly separate; leaves long-petioled --4.
3b. Flowers in cl.u.s.ters of 1-8; leaves short-petioled, sessile, or clasping --8.
4a. Stems herbaceous (flowers greenish-yellow, ill-scented) (Carrion-flower) --5.
4b. Stems woody, th.o.r.n.y, climbing (flowers greenish-yellow, early summer) (Green Brier) --7.
5a. Stems climbing by tendrils --6.
5b. Stem not climbing; only the upper leaves, or none, with tendrils =Carrion-flower, Smilax ecirrhata.=
6a. Leaves smooth beneath. =Carrion-flower, Smilax herbacea.=
6b. Leaves minutely p.u.b.escent beneath when mature =Carrion-flower, Smilax herbacea var. pulverulenta.=
7a. Leaves with 5 princ.i.p.al veins. =Green Brier, Smilax rotundifolia.=
7b. Leaves with 7 princ.i.p.al veins. =Green Brier, Smilax hispida.=
8a. Perianth-segments united into a tube (flowers axillary, late spring) (Solomon"s Seal) --9.
8b. Perianth-segments separate (2-8 dm. high; spring) (Twisted-stalk) --10.
9a. Leaves minutely p.u.b.escent beneath; filaments rough, inserted at three-fourths the length of the perianth (3-8 dm. high) =Small Solomon"s Seal, Polygonatum biflorum.=