no PENTANDRIA— TRIGYNIA. Staphylea. 



throats, &c. The inner bark is more actively cathartic, and is 

 thought beneficial, in rustic ointments and cataplasms, for burns. 

 The dried flowers serve for fomentations, and make a fragi-ant 

 but debilitating tea, useful perhaps in acute inflammations, but 

 not to be persisted in habitually. An infusion of the leaves proves 

 fatal to the various insects vs^hich thrive on blighted or delicate 

 plants, nor do many of this tribe, in the caterpillar state, feed 

 upon them. Cattle scarcely touch them, and the mole is driven 

 away by their scent. 

 Both the varieties above marked have usually whitish berries, of a 

 less disagreeable flavour than the recent black ones ; but the 

 latter are best for medical use. A wine is often made of them, 

 to be taken warm, with spices and sugar ; and they are said 

 frequently to enter into the composition of a less innocent be- 

 verage, artificial or adulterated Port. 



175. STAPHYLEA. Bladder-nut. 



Linn. Gen. 148. Juss.377. FLBr.337. Lam. t.2\0. Gcertn. <.69. 

 Staphylodendron. Tourn. <. 386. 



Nat. Ord. Trihilatce. Linn. 23. Rhamni. Juss. 95. Celas- 

 trince. Brown Bot. of Terra Austr. 22. Linnaeus in MS. 

 has hinted its affinity to Celastrus. 



Cal. inferior, of 1 leaf, concave, in 5 deep, coloured, seg- 

 ments, full as large as the corolla. Pet. 5, oblong, ob- 

 tuse, erect, similar to the calyx. Nectarij cup-shaped, 

 central. Fllam. thread-shaped, erect, the length of the 

 petals. Ayifh. roundish. Germ, superior, rather tumid, 

 in 2 or 3 deep divisions. Styles 2 or 3, simple, erect, a 

 little longer than the stamens. Stigmas obtuse, near to- 

 gether. CajJS. 2 or 3, inflated, bladdery, open at the top 

 and obliquely pointed, combined lengthwise by their su- 

 tures, where they burst, at the inner side. Seeds 2 in 

 each capsule, hard, globose, with a large scar, and an 

 oblique, adjoining, lateral point. 



S. phmata has generally but 2 styles, and as many capsules. 



Shntbs, or t?~ees, with opposite branches and leaves; the 

 latter simply or doubly pinnate, or only ternate ; leaflets 

 ovate. Fl. in drooping clusters, greenish-yellow. 



1 . S. pmnata. Common Bladder-nut. 

 Leaves pinnate. Styles and capsules but two. 



S. pinnata. Linn. Sp. PL 386. fVilld. «. 1 . 1 497. Fl. Br. 337. Engl. 



Bot. V. 22. t. 1560. Ehrh. Arb. 103. 

 S.n.831. Hall. Hist. V. 1.371. 



