234 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Sub-Order II.— STAPH YLE.^. 



IFlowers perfect, regular. Stamens 5, inserted on the outer 

 edge of the disk. Seeds with or without an arillus, albuminous. 

 Embryo straight. 



Shrubs or trees with opposite pinnate trifoliate or more rarely 

 simple leaves. 



GENUS II.— S TAPHYLEA. Linn. 



Flowers regular. Sepals 5, deciduous, coloured. Petals 5, erect. 

 Stamens 5, inserted outside the disk, which lines the bottom of the 

 calyx and is lobed on the margins. Capsules membranous, blad- 

 dery, 2- or 3-lobed, 2- or 3-eelled ; the cells generally 1-seeded, 

 opening ai the apex. Seeds roundish-obovate without an arillus ; 

 seed-coat bony ; albumen fleshy. 



Branched shrubs with opposite stipulate 3- or 5-foliate pinnate 

 leaves ; leaflets with stipels. Flowers white, pendulous, in axillary 

 drooping racemes or panicles. Fruit large. 



Tlie name of this genus is supposed to be an abbreviation of " Stapbylodendron," its 

 name in ancient botany, signifying cr-o^uXj; (staphyle), a buucli or cluster, and cmcpov 

 {dendroii), a tree ; the flowers and fruits ai'e disposed in clusters. 



SPECIES L— STAPHYLEA PIN NAT A. Lbm. 

 Plate CCCXXII. 

 lieich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. V. Saphid. Tab. CLXI. Fig. 4823. 



Leaves piunate, with 2 to 3 pairs of elliptical leaflets and 

 a terminal one. Petioles without glands. Flowers in drooping 

 short racemose panicles. Styles generally 2. Fruit 2-lobed ; lobes 

 bladdery, apiculate. 



In hedgerows and plantations, but having no claim to be 

 considered native. 



[England, Scotland]. Shrub. Summer. 



A large shrub, generally from G to 10 feet high. Leaves with 

 the leaflets 2 to 4 inches long, finely and minutely serrulate at 

 the margins. Peduncles long, produced from the termination of 

 the shoots of the year. Inflorescence 1 to 2 inches long, inter- 

 rupted at the base. Pedicels simple or slightly branched, articu- 

 lated near the middle. Flowers ^ inch long. Divisions of the calyx 

 oblong, whitish, reddish or fawn-coloured externally. Petals white. 



