Native plant identification key for the
Palos Verdes Peninsula, California
Vines
Plants with a climbing or trailing habit, often with twining tendrils to
help them clasp other plants or objects. Vines can be woody: These are
sometimes called lianas. They can also be herbaceous, even annual.
- Lianas or woody vines
- Leaves compound (divided into separate leaflets)
- Leaves pinnately divided (leaflets diverge from the rachis or central
axis)
- Leaves 3-foliate (sometimes 5); leaflets ovate; margins crenulate
(sometimes lobed) toward tip; terminal leaflet ~1-13 cm long, ~1-8 cm wide;
side leaflets ~1-7 cm long, ~1-6 cm wide; shiny-glabrous on top, slightly
hairy underside; bright green in spring, darker green in summer, red or
splotchy red and green in fall, winter deciduous; liana, erect shrub, or small
tree = Toxicodendron
diversilobum (poison oak)
- Herbaceous vines (non-woody, tender stems and tendrils)
- No leaves or tiny scale-like leaves <2 mm long; plants are
non-photosynthetic but parasitical, so they don't need leaves; and stems are,
therefore, the visually dominant part of the plant, forming net-like coverings
on host plants
- Stems very slender and pale yellow = Cuscuta
pentagona (western field dodder)
- Stems medium thickness, bright greenish-yellow or bright orange = Cuscuta
californica (chaparral dodder)
- Leaves simple (not divided into separate leaflets, though they may be
lobed)
- Leaves opposite (pairs of leaves coming out of the same node) low on the
stem but alternate (single leaves on different sides of the stem from their
neighbors) higher up
- Leaves ovate, blunt-tipped; entire; ~0.5-2 cm long; crowded below, each
leaf on a distinct petiole opposite its neighbor; higher up, leaves are
alternate, sessile, slimmer, longer; glabrous; bright to medium green = Antirrhinum
kelloggii (Kellogg's snapdragon)
- Leaves alternate (single leaves on different sides of the stem from their
neighbors) throughout
- Leaves deltoid-hastate (triangular but lobed), 3-lobed, lobes about equal
in size, broad; margins mostly entire but basal lobes have 2-3 teeth at tips,
terminal lobe tapers to 1 tip; ~4-13 cm long; petioles about as long as
leaves; dark green/greyish green; glabrous to densely woolly; thick, nearly
fleshy = Calystegia
macrostegia (California morning glory)
- Leaves lance-hastate (triangular but with lanceolate lobes much longer
than wide), 3-lobed, all roughly equal in size, each lobe ~1.5-2 cm long and
~0.5-1 cm wide, basal lobes with 2 teeth, central lobe 1 acute tip; petioles
~0.5-2 cm long; bluish-green, glabrous (smooth-surfaced) and glaucous (covered
with a whitish resin or dust) = Calystegia
peirsonii (Peirson's morning glory)
- Leaves triangular-ovate (egg-shaped), base somewhat cordate
(heart-shaped); strong, nauseous smell; leaves ~10-30 cm long, held erect on
petioles; blue-grey green; coarsely scabrous/scaly; margins lightly serrate,
may be somewhat lobed at base = Cucurbita
foetidissima (calabazilla)
- Leaves orbicular (round) or cordate (heart-shaped), palmately 5-7 lobed
(diverging from a common base), on a petiole ~3-8 cm long; ~5-10 cm long;
light to medium green; lightly pubescent (hairy/downy) or glabrous (smooth-
surfaced) = Marah
macrocarpus (Cucamonga manroot)
- Leaves compound (divided into separate leaflets)
- Leaves pinnately compound (leaflets diverge from along the rachis or
central axis of the compound leaf). Leaves even-divided, with 8, 10, or 12
leaflets, with stipules (small leaf-like appendages) at base of petiole
connecting the compound leaf to the stem; oblong-lanceolate (much longer than
wide, with margins parallel to one another below tip and above base) to
elliptical (symmetrical oval); medium green; ~2-3.5 cm long; very short
pedicelled; from a distance, each pair of leaflets looks opposite, but closer
inspection shows each pair to be alternate with a small offset; margins
entire; tip mucronate (with a small pointed tip); end of rachis forms a
twisting tendril = Lathyrus
vestitus (Pacific pea)
First placed on web: 08/01/11
Last revised: 08/16/11
Christine M. Rodrigue, Ph.D., Department of Geography, California State
University,
Long Beach, CA 90840-1101
rodrigue@csulb.edu
The development of this key was partially funded through the Geoscience
Diversity Enhancement Program (Award #0703798) and through a course of
re-assigned time provided by the CSULB Scholarly and Creative Activities
Committee. Thanks also to the students in sections of biogeography,
introductory physical geography, GDEP, and LSAMP for "test-driving" various
editions of this key.