Heracleum: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora (BF)  and Flora of Alberta (FOA) leading to this genus. 

	NOT [plants with a bluish tinge, flowers in dense globose heads, bracts spiny]
	foliage NOT spiny
	lowest leaves (and the upper) compound; NOT [lowest leaves simple]
	leaves usually trifoliolate; NOT [leaves simple], NOT [leaves with more than 3 leaflets], NOT [leaves much divided, with leaflets or segments numerous], NOT [leaves palmate with 5-7 large leaflets]
	leaflets palmate
	leaflets 10-30 cm wide; NOT [leaflets much smaller]
	plants LACKING axillary bulblets; NOT [plants with axillary bulblets largely replacing flowers]
	inflorescence NOT bluish
	fruit NOT spiny; NOT [fruit covered with short, hooked spines]

Umbelliferae: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to this family.

	herbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]
	plants terrestrial or semiaquatic; NOT [plants aquatic, leaves submerged or floating]
	plants NOT with colored milky juice
	stems hollow
	plants with more than one normal leaf
	some or all leaves alternate; NOT [leaves opposite, whorled, or basal]
	leaves without stipules, or having glands; NOT [leaves with stipules]
	flowers in umbels
	flowers with two floral rings, and with each petal distinct from the others
	parts of flowers mostly in fives; NOT [parts of flowers in twos or fours]
	calyx regular; NOT [calyx irregular, some sepals smaller than others]
	stamens 10 or fewer; NOT [stamens usually more than 10]
	styles 2; NOT [styles 5]
	ovary inferior; NOT [ovary superior]