SAPINDACE.E. 159 



liave a similar property. This species has usually been con- 

 founded with P. CuRAssAViCA, from which it differs in several 

 particulars. 



IV. Sapindus. 



Calycine sepals 4-5. Petals 4<-5, internally glan- 

 dulose or bearded. Stamens 8, with the filaments 

 villous. Style 1 : stigmata 3. Carpels 3, globose, 

 fleshy, connate, 2 of them in general abortive : seeds 

 spherical — De Cand. 



Trees without thorns. The Name, is an abbreviation of 

 Sapo-Indicus, Indian Soap, from the berries of one of the 

 species being employed as a substitute for Soap. 



1. Sapindus Saponaria. Soap-berry* 



Rachis of the leaves decurrent broadly winged, 

 leaflets lanceolate very entire 4-5 paired, the termi- 

 nal ones very much acuminate. 



Prunifera racemosa, folio alato costa media membranulis 

 utrinque exstantibus donata, Sloane, II. 131. — Sapindus foliis 

 oblongis, Browne, 206. — Nux Americana, foliis alatis bifidis, 

 Comm. Hort. I. t. 94. — Sapindus saponaria, Linn. Sp. 326. 



H AB. Common on the South side of the Island. Hills above 

 Liguanea. 



FL. September, October. 



A tree from 15 to 30 feet in height, branches erect, round, 

 smooth, ash-coloured. Leaves alternate, pinnate, 4-5 paired: 

 leaflets subsessile, 3-4 inches long and 1 i broad, oblongo-lanceo- 

 late, acuminate with the apex blunt, membranaceous, sub-glab- 

 rous above, velutino-pubescent beneath : common petiole 

 winged. Panicle terminal ; peduncle as well as the branches 

 angulose, minutely velutino-tomentulose. Flowers small, white, 

 numerous, crowded, about 3-together, shortly pedicelled. Se- 

 pals of the calyx 5, roundish, concave, the two outermost smaller. 

 Petals 5, resembling an inner scale of the calyx, than whose 

 sepals they are shorter, clawed, elliptic, fringed with hairs. An 

 annular disk formed of yellow connate glandules between the 

 stamens and the petals. Stamens 8, filaments subulate, spread- 

 ing, villous with white hairs especially near the base ; anthers 

 didymous. Ovary small : styles 3, minute, short. Berry size 

 of a cherry ; seed black. 



The fleshy covering of the seeds of this tree, and in a less 

 degree the root, make a lather in water, and serve all the pur- 

 poses of soap, being very generally employed by the lower classes 

 in washing their coarse linens. It has been observed, how- 



