Paris key by Dr. Li Heng

Translated by Dr. Q. Victor Ma

1(0).
  • Ovary with 1 chamber (=locule), more than 4 parietal placentas; seed outer skin succulent (however P.thibetica pseudo-seed-coat covers half the seed); fruit dehiscent, rhizome thick and strong (=stout) with dense nodes; diploid, tropical nuclear type; 2n=10=6m+4st. . . .
Subgenus Daiswa
... 2
  • Ovary has more than 4 chambers, placentation in center (=axile), on seed side have pseudo-seed-skin spongy or not have pseudo-seed-skin; berry not dehiscent, rhizome thick, strong or slender; diploid, polyploid, tropical nuclear type to sub-tropical nuclear type; 2n=10=6m+2st+2t . . . .
Subgenus Paris
... 27

2(1).
  • Outer seed skin red, juicy
... 3
  • Seed shiny black, half covered by fresh red pseudo-seed-skin (=aril), leaf more than 7, long round or filiform, stamen connective prolongation part 8-27 mm
 P.thibetica
... 26

3(2).
  • Stamen (3-) 4-6 whorls, tall herb, up to 3 m. (including pedicel)
P.dunniana
  • Stamens 2 (-3) whorls
... 4

4(3).
  • Connective prolongation not round or kidney shaped, 1 cm in length
 ... 5
  • Prolongation of connective is bowl-shaped or kidney shaped; stamen length only 5-7 mm, erect; leaf 4-5, ovate, have long pedicel
 P.fargesii
... 24

5(4).
  • Herbaceous, relatively tall, usually height at 30 cm above (however, P.polyphylla nana is exception); leaves do not have colored spots (however P.cronquistii and P.mairei sometimes exception
... 6
  • Short herb, height less than 30 cm; leaf dark green with colored spots
 ... 23

6(5).
  • Stamens 3 whorls, leaves ovate, cordate; flower basic number 5-6, equal to the leaf number
 P.cronquistii
... 7
  • Stamens 2 whorls, rarely 3 whorls
 ... 8

7(6).
  • Leaves green with purple spots; petals filiform
 P.cronquistii var. cronquistii
  • Leaves green with no purple spots, petals relatively wide, length 3 cm, width 5 mm
P.cronquistii var. xichouensis

8(6).
  • Flower basic number 4-7, often equal to leaf number; leaf pedicel length 3 cm above (longer than 3 cm?)
... 9
  • Flower basic number (3-) 6-8 (-9), often less than number of leaves; pedicel often short
... 10

9(8).
    Flower basic number 4-5; petal filamentous 0.5-3 mm wide, length 3.5-10 cm, leaf 4-6,obovate or oblanceolate
P.vietnamensis
  • Flower basic number 6-7, petal length 7.5-11 cm, not filiform, upper part is lanceolate, width 3-4 mm, lower part is filiform; leaf 6-7, wide-long-round-shape-relatively (= elliptic?) length 20 cm, width 10 cm
 P.birmanica

10(8).
  • Sepal purple or purplish green; often narrow, small and reflexed; petal often dark purple, shorter than sepals, reflexed under sepals; stamen connective 2-4 mm, acute
 P.delavayi
... 11
  • Sepals and petals green, not purple; connective not showy or up to 2.5 mm
 ... 12

11(10).
  • Leaves from narrow lanceolate to long-round, length 5-12 cm, width 2-4.2 cm, "half short handle" (=subsessile?)
 P.delavayi var. delavayi
  • Leaf ovate or cordate, with long petioles, length 6-13 cm, width 2.5-6.5 (-7) cm
 P.delavayi var. petiolata

12(10).
  • Prolongation is very showy, thickened to ovate or prolongated into filiform
 ... 13
  • Prolongation not showy, never thickened
 ... 14

13(12).
  • Petals erect, length 6-8 cm; filament very short, 1 mm; anther up to 4 mm, prolongation thickened to ovate, length 2-3 mm
P.daliensis
  • Petals not erect, length 5-6 cm, width 2-3 mm, margin undulate; filament length 5-6 mm, anther length 11-12 mm, connective prolongation very showy, or filiform, length 11-15 mm
 P.undulatis

14(12).
  • Plant pubescent; leaf back and margin have hairs like soft chaff, scattered, oblanceolate or obovate or obovate-lanceolate, length 4-14 cm, width 1.4-4.5 cm, leaf pedicel length 0-4 mm, prolongation not showy
 P.mairei
  • Plant glabrous
P.polyphylla
... 15

15(14).
  • Leaf 10-14 (-22), filiform, narrow oval, almost subsessile, length 15-16 cm, width 1-3 , petal filamentous, longer than sepals
 P.polyphylla var. stenophylla
... 16
  • Leaf 5-9 (-11), long-round or oblanceolate or obovate
 ... 17

16(15).
  • Ovary and fruit smooth; leaf width often less than 2 cm
 P.polyphylla var. stenophylla forma stenophylla
  • Ovary and fruit have very showy granules, leaf width often more than 2 cm
 P.polyphylla var. stenophylla forma latifolia

17(15).
  • Prolongation length less than 2.5 cm
 ... 18
  • Prolongation 2.5 cm long; leaf long-round, oblanceolate; sepals often erect
 ... 22

18(17).
  • Styles and base of style white; sepals yellowish green; petals and sepals almost equal length; prolongation less than 1 mm; leaf shape long-oval
 P.polyphylla var. alba
  • Style and base not white, sepal green
 ... 19

19(18).
  • Plant short, stem height 10 cm; pedicel 5 cm, leaf obovate, length 4.5 cm, width 2.5 cm; flower basic number 4; petal much, much longer than sepal, length up to 4.5 cm
 P.polyphylla var. nana
  • Plant tall, stem height above 30 cm; pedicel length 10 cm above; leaf long-round, lanceolate, or obovate-long-round
 ... 20

20(19).
  • Petal length less than sepals by 1/2, usually 1.5-4 cm, reflexed, leaf narrow long-round, oblanceolate, vary rare obovate (type specimen), leaf base cuneate
 P.polyphylla var. chinensis
  • Petal and sepals almost equal or petal longer than sepal, not reflexed but divergent
 ... 21

21(20).
  • Leaves obovate, long-round, very round oblanceolate, base cuneate to round, have one pair of veins very close to leaf base, veins divergent; stamens 2-3 whorls; petal upper part often enlarged into a narrow spoon shape, width 2 (-5) mm
 P.polyphylla var. yunnanensis
  • Leaf long-round, long oval, leaf base wide cuneate to round, very often shallow cordate, lateral veins feather-like, stamens 2 whorl, petal filiform not whitened
 P.polyphylla var.polyphylla

22(17).
  • Flower has petals, flower basic number 2-6; sepal lanceolate, oval, width less than 2 cm
 P.polyphylla var. pseudothibetica
  • Flower has no petals; flower basic number 3-4; sepals ovate width to 3 cm
 P.polyphylla var. stenophylla forma macrosepala

23(6).
  • Flower basic number 4-6, number equal leaf number, leaf obovate, oblanceolate, long-round, rhombic; upper part dark green, vein area light green, back dark purple; petal longer than sepals, very often grow between rock crevices
 P.luquanensis
  • Flower basic number 3-4, less than leaf number, leaf narrow oval, narrower lanceolate, upper green, veins light white, back light greenish-purple; petal shorter than sepal, often grown in Old Growth Forest (undisturbed) and shrub thickets in leaf litter
 P.marmorata

24(4).
  • Petal longer or almost equal to the sepal
 P.fargesii var. fargesii
  • Petal much shorter than sepal
 ... 25

25(24).
  • Petal filiform, dark purple, width 2 mm reflexed, below sepals
 P.fargesii var. brevipetalata
  • Petal light green oval, width 2.5 mm, length 1-2 mm, flat, not reflexed
P.fargesii var. latipetala

26(2).
  • Flower has petals
P.thibetica var. thibetica
  • Flower has no petals
 P.thibetica var. apetala

27(1).
  • Seed half covered by yellowish-white or orange-red pseudo-seed-skin; stamens 2-3 whorls; rhizome strong; diploid, tropical to subtropical nuclear type
 ... 28
  • Seed no pseudo-seed-skin; stamens 2 whorl
 ... 33

28(27).
  • Rhizome very often branched like finger; leaf 3-6, ovate, obovate, base cordate or round length 7-19 cm, width 4.5-11.2 cm, flower basic number 3-6, equal to the leaf number; stamens 2-3 whorls
 P.axialis
... 29
  • Rhizome not branched; cylindrical
 ... 30

29(28).
  • Berry when mature light greenish-white, pseudo-seed-skin yellowish white
 P.axialis var. axialis
  • Berry when mature red, pseudo-seed-skin orange-red
 P.axialis var. rubra

30(28).
  • Ovary and style base green; leaf many, 9-10, leaf veins back bluish-purple
 P.dulongensis
  • Ovary and style base yellow, red, or bluish-purple leaf 4-7, leaf veins green
 ... 31

31(30).
  • Ovary green, style base bluish-purple, leaf 4-5, wide obovate, half wrinkled, length 10-15 cm, width 6.3-10 cm, basic flower number 4-5, equal to leaf number; stamens 3 whorls
 P.rugosa
  • Ovary and style base red or yellow
 ... 32

32(31).
  • Style base and ovary red; leaf 4-7, long-round obovate, long-round base round, shallow cordate, length 6.5-17 cm, width 2.5-6 cm
 P.forrestii
  • Style base yellow, ovary green; leaf 5-6, oblanceolate, oval, base cuneate, length 11 cm, width 4 cm
 P.vaniotii

33(27).
  • Rhizome thick, strong; sepal white; flower basic number 6-12; stamens 2 times petals; octoploid, subtropical nuclear type
 P.japonica
  • Rhizome thin and long, stoloniferous, girth less than 3 mm; flower basic number 4-5; sepal green; prolongation very showy; diploid, tetraploid, nuclear type subtropical
 ... 34

34(33).
  • Flower has petals; prolongation 4-8 mm, flower basic number 4-5
 ... 35
  • Flower has no petals, connectives do not prolong; flower basic number 4
 ... 37

35(34).
  • Sepals flat; leaf 7-9; flower basic number 4 (-5), less than leaf
 P.verticillata
  • Sepals reflexed; leaf 4 (-6); flower basic number 4 (-5), often equal to leaf number
 ... 36

36(35).
  • Leaf blade narrow oval 4-6; sepal narrow; width 2-3 (-6) mm, chromosome 2n=2x=20
P.bashanensis
  • Leaf blade obovate, 4; sepal width 5 mm; chromosome 2n=4x=20
 P.quadrifolia

37(34).
  • Leaf 4, rarely 5-6; sepal reflexed; distribution Sakhalin Island to Japan
 P.tetraphylla
  • Leaf 7-8, sepal not reflexed; distribution Caucasus to Turkey
 P.incompleta

Back to main Trilliaceae pages

restored: 28 May 2004 sfarmer@goldsword.com