1 | Ovary inferior; fruit a berry | Vaccinium |
– | Ovary superior; fruit a capsule | 2 |
2 | Leaves evergreen, blades coriaceous, adaxial surface either dark green and shiny or dull olive green and lepidote (covered with small, white or yellowish scurfy scales) | 3 |
– | Leaves deciduous, blades membranous or subcoriaceous, deciduous, adaxial surface light to dark green, dull, not lepidote | 4 |
3 | Twig and leaf blade surfaces prominently lepidote, adaxial leaf surface dull olive green, lacking a prominent perimarginal vein | Chamaedaphne calyculata Fig. 136 |
– | Twig and adaxial leaf blade surfaces glabrous, not lepidote, adaxial leaf surface dark green and shiny, larger leaves with a prominent perimarginal vein ca. 1 mm from blade margin | Lyonia [Lyonia lucida Fig. 139] |
4 | Leaves predominantly obovate or oblanceolate, margins distinctly long-ciliate; corolla funnelform, lobes > 10 mm long; capsule elongate, > 2 × as long as broad, 7–23 mm long | Rhododendron viscosum var. serrulatum Fig. 140 |
– | Leaves various, margins not long-ciliate; corolla urceolate, campanulate, or globose, lobes < 5 mm long, capsule oblate (spheroidal, but flattened apically and basally), ovoid, globose, or subglobose, nearly as broad as long or broader, 2–6.5 mm long | 5 |
5 | Leaf margins crenate; corolla campanulate; capsule oblate | Zenobia pulverulenta Fig. 143 |
– | Leaf margins spinulose-serrate, serrulate, or entire; corolla urceolate or globose; capsule ovoid, globose, or subglobose | 6 |
6 | Leaf margins spinulose-serrate; inflorescence of racemes produced along stems of previous year; capsules not thickened and whitish along sutures; seeds 5–10 per capsule | Eubotrys racemosa Fig. 137 |
– | Leaf margins entire to minutely serrulate; inflorescence of terminal panicles produced on stems of current year, proximal inflorescences often with conspicuous leaf-like bracts; capsules thickened and whitish along sutures; seeds 100–300+ per capsule | Lyonia ligustrina Fig. 138 |
Key adapted from Tucker (2009b) and Weakley (2012).