CHAP. (.] CELASTRINEiE. 343 



ORDER LIX.— CELASTRINEiE. 



This order is divided into three sections, each 

 containing well-known plants. The first of these 

 takes its name from Staphylcea pinnata, the 

 Bladder-nut. In the flowers of this plant the 

 calyx is in five divisions, and white tinged with 

 pink, so as to be scarcely distinguishable from 

 the corolla. There are two or three carpels, 

 which are surrounded by the receptacle, and 

 the styles of which adhere shghtly together. 

 The capsule is bladdery, and consists of two or 

 three cells, each containing one smooth, brown- 

 ish, bony seed, which looks as though one end 

 had been cut off at the hilum. The leaves are 

 compound, each having five leaflets. The second 

 section contains, among other plants, the 

 Spindle-tree {Euonyimcs eurojjcEUs)^ Cassine, 

 and the Staff" tree {Celastrus scandens). The 

 Euonymus has small whitish-green inconspi- 

 cuous flowers ; but it is remarkable for the 

 beauty of its capsules, which are fleshy, and of 

 a bright rose-colour, while the seeds, which are 

 of a bright orange, are enwrapped in a covering 

 called an aril, by which they remain attached 

 to the capsule after the valves have opened. 

 Each capsule has five cells and five seeds, and 

 each seed has a little white stalk attached to its 

 aril, like the funicle of a pea. There are several 



