90 SOAPBERRY FAMILY. 



1. STAPHYLEA, BLADDEK-NUT. (Name from a Greek word for a 



bunch of grapes, little applicable. ) 



S. trifolia, American B. Shrub 8° -10° high, with greenish striped 

 branches, 3 ovate pointed serrate leaflets, deciduous stipules, and hanging 

 raceme-like clusters of white flowers at the end of the branchlets of the season, 

 in spring, followed by the large bladdery pods. Low ground, common N. & W. 



S. pinn^ta, European B., occasionally planted, is very similar, but has 

 five leaflets. 



2. CARDIOSPERMUM, BALLOON- VINE, HEART-SEED. (The 

 latter is a translation of the Greek name. ) 



C. Halicacabum, the common species, wild in the S. W. States, is cult. 

 in gardens, for the curious inflated pods ; it is a delicate herb, climbing over 

 low plants or spreading on the ground, with small white flowers, in summer. 



3. KCELREUTERIA. (Named for Kcelreuter, a German botanist.) 



K. paniculkta, a small tree from China, planted in oi'namental grounds ; 

 has pinnate leaves of numerous thin and coarsely toothed or cut leaflets, and a 

 terminal ample branched panicle of small yellow flowers, in summer, followed 

 by the bladdery pods. 



4. SAPINDUS, SOAPBERRY. (Sapo Indus, i. e. Indian soap, the berries 

 used as a substitute for soap.) 



S. margiu^tus, wild S. & W. : a small tree, with 8-20 broadly lanceolate 

 falcate leaflets on a wingless but often margined common stalk, and small white 

 flowers in panicles, in summer, the whitish berries as large as bullets. 



6. JESCULUS, HORSE-CHESTNUT, BUCKEYE. (Ancient name 

 of an Oak or other mast-bearing tree, applied to these trees on account of 

 their large chestnut-like seeds. These, although loaded with forinaceous 

 noui'ishment, are usually rendered uneatable, and even poisonous, by a bitter 

 narcotic principle.) Flowers in a terminal crowded panicle, in late spring or 

 early summer. 



§ 1. True Horse-Chestnuts : natives of Asia, with broad and spreading 

 petals on short claws, and fruit more or less beset with prickly points. 



7F. . Hippoc^stanum, Common H. Tall fine tree, with 7 leaflets, and 

 large flowers of 5 petals, white, and spotted with some purple and yellowish ; 

 stamens 7, declined : of late there is a double-flowered variety. 



.ffl. rubiciinda, Red H. Less tall, flowering even as a shrub, with 

 brighter green leaves of 5 - 7 leaflets, flowers with 4 rose-red petals not so 

 spreading, and mostly 8 stamens less declined. JProbably a hybrid between 

 Horse-Chestnut and some red Buckeye. 



§ 2. Callfornian, with 4 broad spreading petals on rather slender claws. 



■ JE. Califdrnica, Californian H. Low tree, of 5 slender-stalked leaf- 

 lets, and a long very compact raceme-like panicle of small white or rosy-tinged 

 flowers ; stamens 5-7, slender ; fruit large, with some rough points. 



§ 3. Buckeyes : of Atlantic U. S., with A erect and smaller petals on slender claios. 



^. parvifldra. Small Buckeye. Wild in the upper country S., and 

 planted N. ; shrub 3° - 9° high, with 5-7 leaflets soft downy underneath, slen- 

 der racenic-likc ])anicle 1° long, and capillary stamens very much longer than 

 the narrow white petals ; flowering N. as late as midsummer ; fruit smooth ; 

 seeds small, almost eatable. 



.SI. glabra, Fetip or Ohio Buckeye. W. of the Allcghanies ; tall 

 tree, with 5 nearly smooth leaflets, a short panicle, petals moderately longer 

 than the somewhat uniform pale yellow petals, and fruit prickly roughened like 

 that of Horse-Chcstnut. 



7P] , fl^va, Yellow or Sweet Buckeye. W. & S. ; tree or shrub, with 

 5-7 smooth or smoothish leaflets, a short dense panicle, oblong calyx, and 



