Rhamnus alnifolia
 
Alder-Leaved Buckthorn

Upper Plant

Fir River Shelter on Fir River Road, West of Hudson Bay
16-June-2015

There are 5 to 8 lateral veins on each side of each leaf.  Note also the crenate-serrate leaf margins.

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Alnifolia: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this species. 
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branches not thorny; NOT [some branches ending in a short thorn]

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leaves serrate; NOT [leaves entire]

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flowers unisexual; NOT [flowers perfect]

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flowers apetalous; NOT [flowers with petals present]

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flowers 5-merous; NOT [flowers 4-merous]

 

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Rhamnus: Answers to key questions in Budd's Flora and Flora of Alberta leading to this genus. 
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leaves pinnately veined; NOT [leaves 3-nerved from the base]

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flowers axillary, in few-flowered umbels or solitary; NOT [flowers numerous in a dense terminal panicle]

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fruit juicy; NOT [fruit dry]

 

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Rhamnaceae: Answers to key questions in Flora of Alberta  leading to this family. 
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plants not parasitic on coniferous trees; NOT [plants parasitic on the trunks and branches of coniferous trees (pines)]

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trees or shrubs; NOT [herbs]

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plants 5-20 dm tall; NOT [plants 1-2 (5) dm tall]

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leaves simple, not lobed; NOT [leaves pinnately compound or palmately lobed]

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leaves ovate to elliptic; NOT [leaves needle-like]

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leaves 3-10 cm long; NOT [leaves 0.5-1.0 cm long]

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flowers perfect, or, if imperfect, the plants herbaceous, or, if woody, the flowers not in catkins; NOT [flowers imperfect, the staminate, and generally the pistillate too, in catkins; trees or shrubs]

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perianth uniseriate (i.e. of only one series of appendages all more or less the same) or entirely absent; NOT [perianth biseriate (i.e. of two different series of appendages, the inner generally larger, coloured, the outer generally smaller, greenish)]

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ovary superior; NOT [ovary inferior or partly so, or closely enclosed by the calyx and appearing inferior]

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fruit berry-like, black; NOT [fruit winged]