SCROPHULARIACEAE Juss.
Family with a cosmopolitan distribution composed of about 76 genera and about 1,580 species, mostly herbaceous, and rarely trees, shrubs or lianescent species. In North Africa it is represented by 28 genera, with some subshrubby species only in Acanthorrhinum, Anarrhinum, Kickxia, Lindenbergia and Scrophularia. Only 2 species can be considered shrubs, reaching about 1 m in height: Acanthorrhinum ramosissimum and S. canina.
Sutton, D. 1988. A revision of the tribe Antirrhineae. Oxford University Press.
Key to genera
1 Leaves opposite. Corolla without spur or without basal saccule 2
1 Leaves all or most of them alternate. Corolla with spur at the base, sometimes reduced to a small saccule, or absent 3
2 Flower in spiciform racemes. Corolla c. 15 mm, with hairy throat and narrow cylindrical tube without staminode Lindenbergia
2 Flowers in paniculate inflorescences formed by dichasial cymes. Corolla 3.5-6.5 mm, with subglobose tube with 1 staminode inside, in the dorsal side Scrophularia
3 Corolla without spur, with saccule at the base. Corolla tube fully closed by the palate Acanthorrhinum
3 Corolla with a very pronounced spur at the base. Corolla tube not completely closed by the palate or without palate 4
4 Flowers in bracteate racemes. Leaves sessile, linear or linear-spatulate. Corolla with without spur or without palate Anarrhinum
4 Flowers not in racemes; in the axils of leaves. Leaves petiolate, from ovate to ovate-lanceolate. Corolla with a well pronounced spur at the base and palate on the lower lip that closes the corolla tube Kickxia
Updated by: B. Valdés.