1883-84-] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 165 



8. Sapindacese. — This order, known as " Indian soapworts," is so 

 named from the saponaceous principle contained in the seed of some 

 of the species. In the order is found the genus ^^sculus or Horse- 

 Chestnut, known in America as the Buckeye. The plant selected is 

 .^sculus glabra, or Ohio Buckeye, — a small tree found growing along 

 the banks of the Ohio and its tributaries. Its flowers, which are 

 yellowish-white, have by no means a pleasant odour. 



9. Leguminosae. — This is a very large and important order, distrib- 

 uted nearly throughout all lands, "from pole to pole." Of the 6500 

 species now known, 350 are natives of America. No other order 

 possesses a greater claim on general attention, whether as regards 

 beauty or utility. In it mankind find materials for food, shelter, 

 ornament, and medicine. It contains such diverse products as Beans, 

 Peas, and Lentils ; Rose-wood, Sandal- wood, and Laburnum ; the 

 Acacias and splendid varieties of Cercis ; Liquorice, Senna, and Gum- 

 tragacanth. We have chosen two representatives of the order. 

 Cassia marilandica and Cercis canadensis. Cassia marilandica, or 

 American Senna, is a handsome plant, often met with in alluvial soils 

 in the United States, growing in masses, from three to five feet in 

 height. The flowers are in axillary racemes and terminal panicles, 

 the petals being bright yellow in colour. The leaflets are in pairs, 

 six to nine in number : their cathartic properties are well known. 

 The Cercis canadensis is popularly known as the Judas Tree and the 

 Eed-bud. It is a very handsome tree, from twenty to thirty feet 

 high, the blossoms appearing in early spring before the leaves, and 

 clotliing the whole tree in jjurple flowers arranged in small lateral 

 clusters. Gerarde remarks of it, " This is the tree whereon Judas 

 did hang himself, and not on the Elder-tree as it is said." 



10. Rosacese. — This order is highly prized for the delicious flowers 

 and fruits included in it. With the exception of the Almond family, 

 none of the 1000 species it contains are injurious. It embraces many 

 forms of plant-life, as the umbrageous tree, the trailing herb, and the 

 flowering shrub. The determination of the species in some of the 

 genera, as Rosa and Bubus, is still an open question. The Pear and 

 the Apple both claim descent from the genus Pyrus, the most widely 

 diffused of fruit-trees. Varieties almost without number are raised of 

 these delicious fruits ; and nearly a thousand kinds of Apples are 

 cultivated in the United States alone. We have selected two forms 

 of Pyrus — coronarla and arhutifolia. Pyrus coronaria, or the Sweet- 

 scented Crab-tree, is a small tree of from ten to twenty feet high. 

 Both flowers and fruit have an agreeable fragrance. The Apple is 

 yellowish, hard, and sour, but in favour for preserving. Pyrus 

 arbutifolia, or Choke-berry, is a small shrub, from five to eight feet 

 high, found growing in moist woods. The flowers are white, grow- 

 ing in terminal corymbs ; while the fruit is the size of a Currant, and 

 astringent in taste. 



