Caryophyllaceae Juss.
Creators: name: Fonseca-Cortés, Andrés
name: Sandoval-Ortega, Manuel Higinio
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Plantae
Tracheophyta
Magnoliopsida
Caryophyllales
Caryophyllaceae

description: Proposed key to the genera of the Caryophyllaceae from Colombia: ―It follows:   
1. Fruits utricles; ovary with one ovule..................................................................................................................................................2  
- Fruits capsules; ovary with more than one ovule...............................................................................................................................4  
 2. Leaf blades needlelike, apex sharply pungent; seeds narrowly ovate................................... Cardionema Candolle (1828: 372-373)   
- Leaf blades linear, elliptic, subulate, oblanceolate or spatulate, apex obtuse, acuminate; seeds subglobose to ellipsoid, laterally compressed.........................................................................................................................................................................................3  
 3. Stipules absent; fruit enclosed by a persistent, indurate, sepal-crowned hypanthium................. Scleranthus Linnaeus (1753: 406)   
 - Stipules present; fruit not enclosed by the hypanthium.............................................................................. Paronychia Miller (1754)   
4. Stipules absent....................................................................................................................................................................................5  
- Stipules present.................................................................................................................................................................................12  
5. Sepals connate, forming a tube...........................................................................................................................................................6  
- Sepals free or fused in the base..........................................................................................................................................................8  
 6. Each petaloid staminode with two linear auricles; styles 3–5................................................................ Silene Linnaeus (1753: 416)   
- Petaloid staminodes without auricles; styles 2–3...............................................................................................................................7  
 7. Bracteoles 1–3 pairs; calyx lobes shorter than the tube; capsules oppening by apical teeth.............. Dianthus Linnaeus (1753: 409)   
 - Bracteoles absent; calyx lobes equal or longer than the tube; capsules opening by valves........... Gypsophila Linnaeus (1753: 406)   
 8. Flowers terminal, solitary; petaloid staminodes absent................................................................. Colobanthus Bartling (1830: 305)   
- Flowers in terminal cymes or axillary solitary flowers; petaloid staminodes present.......................................................................9  
9. Petaloid staminodes emarginate or bifid..........................................................................................................................................10  
- Petaloid staminodes entire................................................................................................................................................................11  
 10. Capsule longer than sepals, opening by 6–10 apical teeth, stamens 10.............................................................................. Cerastium   
 - Capsule equaling or slightly longer than sepals, opening by 3 or 6 valves, stamens (3–)5(–10)....... Stellaria Linnaeus (1753: 421)   
 11. Styles 3; capsules opening by 6 valves or apical teeth.......................................................................................................... Arenaria   
 - Styles 4–5; capsules opening by 4–5 valves.......................................................................................... Sagina Linnaeus (1753: 128)   
12. Leaves petiolate, leaf blades ovate, elliptic, oblanceolate, orbiculate, reniform or spatulate..........................................................13  
- Leaves sessile, leaf blades linear......................................................................................................................................................14  
 13. Sepals keeled; petaloid staminodes with the apex entire or slightly emarginate............................................................... Polycarpon   
 - Sepals without keel; petaloid staminodes bifid or with the apex with 4-8 lobes................................................................................................................................................................................. Drymaria Willdenow ex Schultes (in Roemer & Schultes 1819: 406)   
 14. Styles 3; capsule opening by three valves............................................... Spergularia (Persoon 1805: 504) Presl & Presl (1819: 94)   
 - Styles 5; capsule opening by five valves............................................................................................ Spergula Linnaeus (1753: 440)
description: Published as part of Fonseca-Cortés, Andrés & Sandoval-Ortega, Manuel Higinio, 2022, Polycarpon tetraphyllum (Caryophyllaceae) a new record for the Colombian flora and a key to the genera of the Caryophyllaceae from Colombia, pp. 105-110 in Phytotaxa 533 (1) on pages 107-108, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.533.1.8, http://zenodo.org/record/5974057