Linnaea borealis

Twinflower

Peck Lake
03-July-2002

Note that to key family Caprifoliaceae from Linnaea borealis in Budd's Flora (noting the 4 stamens), you must select the plant as a herb.  Yet to key genus Linnaea from Linnaea borealis in the same flora, you must select the plant as a "low, trailing evergreen shrub".

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Linnaea Characteristics
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low, trailing, slender, slightly woody evergreen  shrubs

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leaves simple, at most deeply lobed

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flowers in pairs on long peduncles

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4 stamens

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fruit small, dry

 

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Caprifoliaceae Characteristics
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shrubs (erect or climbing) or trailing plants

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plants green or with some chlorophyll

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plants without milky juice

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not climbing plants, not tendril bearing

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stems rounded

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leaves opposite

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leaves without stipules

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flowers with two floral rings, but with the petals wholly or partly united forming a tube or bell

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calyx not modified as a pappus or other special structure

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flowers not in heads or spikes

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stamens alternate with the corolla-lobes and of the same number, or fewer

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stamens inserted on the corolla

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4 or 5 stamens

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ovary inferior, flowers epigynous

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ovary with 2-many fertile locules and 2-many ovules