Sapindales.] 



SAPINDACE^E. 



38: 



have been set apart because of theii' fruit being a th-upe, their ovules all suspended, and 

 their stamens reduced to two only m a fertile condition. There does not, however, 

 appear to be m these cases such differences from the true Soapworts as can stamp the 

 supposed Orders ^\^th authority ; and, as might have been expected, the progress 

 of discovery does not sanction the separation by adding new members to such groups. 

 The true character of Soapworts I'esides in their unsj-nimetrical flowers, (the stamens 

 never agreeuag in number or power with the sepals,) in their anthers bursting 

 longitudinally, and in the petals ha\-ing an appendage, while the seeds have an aril and 

 the embryo is curved or spu*al. But none of the latter chai'acters are constant, and 

 consequently the definition of the Order becomes very difficult. From Maples they 

 hardly differ. At least, the characters usually pointed out as distinguishmg them are 

 fallacious in practice. The opposite leaves of Maples are found in ^sculus and others, 

 and that genus has not appendages on its petals more than Acer itself, and a whole race 

 of the Soapworts has samaroid fruit, which is the more obvious mark of the Order of 

 Maples. To Milkworts they are no doubt akua in the smgular combination of 8 

 stamens with 5 unequal sepals, and an uucertam number of petals ; and also m their 

 aril, which may be compared to the carvmcula of Milkworts, although somewhat 

 different in its origin. The dried leaves resemble, as De Candolle remarks, those of 

 Connarads. Their chmbmg habit and tendency to produce tendrils indicate a relation 

 to Vines, wdiich, however, is not very near. Malpighiads ai*e known with cer- 

 tainty by their sj-mmetrical flowers, although they too have the "keys" or samarse 

 that are so common among Soapworts. Petiveriads are certainly very near this 

 Order ; but, in addition to theii' constant want of petals, their cai'pel is always solitary, 

 and absolutely simple. 



A very general character of the Soapworts is to have their embryo either cmwed, or 

 twisted spii'ally. This occurs in a remarkable manner in the nut of a Demerara tree, 

 called the Snake-nut, in conse- 

 quence of the large embryo re- 

 sembling a snake coiled up . Sir R. 

 Schomburgk, who first described 

 tliis production in the Annals of 

 Natural History, vol. 5. p. 204, 

 has called the tree Ophiocaryon 

 paradoxum. The accorapanymg 

 figure represents it in a germi- 

 nating condition. Another pecu- 

 liarity resides in the trunk of such 

 as have a climbing habit. These 

 remarkable plants possess several 

 distinct woody axes, held together Fig. CCLXVIII. 



by masses of cortical matter, so that they resemble several thick-barked stems, forced 

 together with \'iolence. Instances of this stinicture have been figured by Gaudichaud, 

 at Plate xiii. of liis Recherches sur VOrganoyraphie. 



Natives of most parts of the tropics, but especially of South America and India. 

 Africa knows many of them, but they are wanting in the cold regions of the north. 

 None are found wild in Europe, Dodonnea represents the Order in New Holland ; 

 Horse Chesnuts in the north of India, Persia, and the United States. 



It is singular that while the leaves and branches of many of these plants are unques- 

 tionably poisonous, the fruit of others is valuable as an article of the dessert. Thus the 

 Longan, the Litchi, and the Rambutan, fruits among the more delicious of the Indian 

 archipelago, are the produce of diff'erent species of Nephehum, Pierardia sativa and 

 dulcis, to which belong the Rambeh and Choopa of Malacca, and Hedycarpus malayanus 

 producmg the Tampui, are other fruit trees of the Order. The fruit of Schniidelia 

 eduUs is known at desserts m Brazil, under the name of Fruta de parao ; it is said to 

 have a sweet and pleasant taste. Various species of Sapindus are mentioned as fiiiit 

 trees. The blacks of Senegal highly value the berries of S. senegalensis ; the fruit of 

 S. esculentus is very fleshy, and much esteemed by the inhabitants of Certao, by whom 

 it is called Pittomba. Mehcocca bijuga, a West Indian tree, is now cultivated in Brazil 

 for its agi'eeable subacid \dnous berries. The fruit of Pappea capensis is called Wild 

 Prunes at the Cape of Good Hope ; its seeds abound in oil. The succulent aril of the 

 Akee tree (Blighia or Cupania sapida), ofPaullinia subrotunda, and Schleichera trijuga, 

 are also articles of food ui their respective coimtries. 



Nevertheless, these finiits belong to a race eminently dangerous ; and, as in other 



Fig. CCLXVIII.— Germinating seed of Ophiocaryon paradoxum. a. radicle ; b. cauliculus ; cc. cotyle- 

 dons, which, when at rest and unexpanded, are folded down upon d. 



