SAPINDACEAE 



Western Soapberry 

 Sapindus drummondii Hook, & Arn. 



HABIT. A shrub or small tree rarely 40-50 feet high and 

 lV^-2 feet in diameter; branches round, usually erect. 



LEAVES. Alternate; pinnately compound with 4—9 pairs of 

 lanceolate leaflets, each 2-3 inches long; margins entire; gla- 

 brous above and pubescent beneath; pale yellow-green; decid- 

 uous. 



FLOWERS. Regular; polygamo-dioecious; minute; in many- 

 flowered clusters 6-9 inches long; calyx of 4-5 acute sepals; 

 corolla of 4-5 white petals; stamens 8-10, filaments hairy; ovary 

 superior, 2-4-celled; ovules solitary and ascending in each cell. 



FRUIT. Drupaceous, ripening into a leathery, 1-3-celled 

 and seeded berry; Yz inch in diameter; glabrous; yellow, turn- 

 ing black in drying; persistent on branches until spring; for- 

 merly used as soap. Seed: solitary in each carpel; obovoid; dark 

 brown; with a smooth, bony coat. 



TWIGS. Moderately stout; round; at first pubescent and 

 pale yellow-green, becoming puberulous, gray. Winter buds: 

 terminal absent; lateral small, globose, often superposed in 

 pairs. 



BARK. Thin {V'i-Vi inch); red-brown; furrowed into long, 

 superfically scaly plates; bitter and astringent. 



W'OOD. Unimportant; heavy; hard; strong; close-grained; 

 ring-porous; heartwood light brown, tinged with vellow. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intolerant; roots fleshy; growth 

 large quantities of saponin, a severe poison. Florida soapberry, 

 ^S". marginatus Willd., is a small tree from South Carolina to 

 Florida. 



Mexican-buckeye 



Ungnadia speciosa Endl. 



This shrub or small tree of southern Texas and New Mexico 

 is characterized by alternate, deciduous, pinnately compound 

 leaves with 5-7 ovate-lanceolate leaflets, each 3-5 inches long, 

 thick and dark green; by small, irregular, polygamous flowers; 

 and by a leathery, 3-valved capsular fruit 2 inches wide and 

 red-brown, which contain black, shiny, leathery seeds about 

 Yz inch long and reputed to be poisonous. 



[313] 



