Part 43 (1/2)

ORDER 29. SAPINDaCEae. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.)

_Trees or shrubs, with simple or compound leaves, mostly unsymmetrical and often irregular flowers; the 4--5 sepals and petals imbricated in aestivation; the 5--10 stamens inserted on a fleshy (perigynous or hypogynous) disk; a 2--3-celled and -lobed ovary, with 1--2 (rarely more) ovules in each cell; and the embryo_ (except Staphylea) _curved or convolute, without alb.u.men._--A large and diverse order.

SUBORDER I. Sapindeae. Flowers (often polygamous) mostly unsymmetrical and irregular. Stamens commonly more numerous than the petals, rarely twice as many. Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Embryo curved or convolute, rarely straight; cotyledons thick and fleshy.--Leaves alternate or sometimes opposite, without stipules, mostly compound.

1. aesculus. Flowers irregular. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 4 or 5. Stamens commonly 7. Fruit a leathery 3-valved pod. Leaves opposite, digitate.

2. Sapindus. Flowers regular. Sepals 4--5, in two rows. Petals 4--5.

Stamens 8--10. Fruit a globose or 2--3-lobed berry. Leaves alternate, pinnate.

SUBORDER II. Acerineae. (MAPLE FAMILY.) Flowers (polygamous or dicious) small, regular, but usually unsymmetrical. Petals often wanting. Ovary 2-lobed and 2-celled, with a pair of ovules in each cell. Fruits winged, 1-seeded. Embryo coiled or folded; the cotyledons long and thin.--Leaves opposite, simple or compound.

3. Acer. Flowers polygamous. Leaves simple.

4. Negundo. Flowers dicious. Leaves pinnate, with 3--5 leaflets.

SUBORDER III. Staphyleae. (BLADDER-NUT FAMILY.) Flowers (perfect) regular; stamens as many as the petals. Ovules 1--8 in each cell. Seeds bony, with a straight embryo in scanty alb.u.men.--Shrubs with opposite pinnately compound leaves, both stipulate and stipellate.

5. Staphylea. Lobes of the colored calyx and petals 5, erect. Stamens 5.

Fruit a 3-celled bladdery-inflated pod.

1. ?SCULUS, L. HORSE-CHESTNUT. BUCKEYE.

Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, often oblique or gibbous at base. Petals 4--5, more or less unequal, with claws, nearly hypogynous. Stamens 7 (rarely 6 or 8); filaments long, slender, often unequal. Style 1; ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell. Fruit a leathery pod, 3-celled and 3-seeded, or usually by abortion 1-celled and 1-seeded, loculicidally 3-valved.

Seed very large, with thick s.h.i.+ning coat, and a large round pale scar.

Cotyledons very thick and fleshy, their contiguous faces coherent, remaining under ground in germination; plumule 2-leaved; radicle curved.--Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, digitate; leaflets serrate, straight-veined, like a Chestnut-leaf. Flowers in a terminal thyrse or dense panicle, often polygamous, most of them with imperfect pistils and sterile; pedicels jointed. Seeds farinaceous, but imbued with a bitter and narcotic principle. (The ancient name of some Oak or other mast-bearing tree.)

-- 1. aeSCULUS proper. _Fruit covered with p.r.i.c.kles when young._

ae. HIPPOCaSTANUM, L. (COMMON HORSE-CHESTNUT.) Corolla spreading, white spotted with purple and yellow, of 5 petals; stamens declined; leaflets 7.--Commonly planted. (Adv. from Asia via Eu.)

1. ae. glabra, Willd. (FETID or OHIO BUCKEYE.) Stamens curved, longer than the pale yellow corolla of 4 upright petals; leaflets usually 5.--River-banks, W. Penn. to Mich., Mo., Kan., and southward. June.--A large tree; the bark exhaling an unpleasant odor, as in the rest of the genus. Flowers small, not showy.

-- 2. PaVIA. _Fruit smooth; petals 4, conniving; the 2 upper smaller and longer than the others, with a small rounded blade on a very long claw._

2. ae. flava, Ait. (SWEET BUCKEYE.) _Stamens included_ in the yellow corolla; _calyx oblong-campanulate_; leaflets 5, sometimes 7, glabrous, or often minutely downy underneath.--Rich woods, Va. to Ohio, Mo., and southward. May. A large tree or a shrub.

Var. purpurascens, Gray. Calyx and corolla tinged with flesh-color or dull purple; leaflets commonly downy beneath.--From W. Va., south and westward.

3. ae. Pavia, L. (RED BUCKEYE.) Stamens not longer than the corolla, which is bright red, as well as the _tubular calyx_; leaflets glabrous or soft-downy beneath.--Fertile valleys, Va., Ky., Mo., and southward.

May. A shrub or small tree.

2. SAPNDUS, L. SOAP-BERRY.

Flowers regular, polygamous. Sepals 4--5, imbricated in 2 rows. Petals 4--5, with a scale at the base. Stamens 8--10, upon the hypogynous disk.