STANDLEY TREES AND SHRUBS OF MEXICO. 691 



Tree; leaves long-petiolate, the leaflets long-stalked, lanceolate or oblong- 

 lanceolate, 7 to 20 cm. long, long-acuminate, entire or nearly so, lustrous, 

 glabrous ; panicles shorter than the leaves ; calyx 8 to 10 mm. long, puberulent ; 

 petals deep red, 1.5 to 2 cm. long. 



One other species of the genus is known, B. Columbiana Planch. & Lind., 

 ranging from Guatemala to Colombia. 



2. AESCULUS L. Sp. PI. 344. 1753. 



The species which grow in the United States are known by the names " horse- 

 chestnut " and " buckeye." They are mostly large trees and are often planted 

 for shade. Ramfrez reports that Aesculus hippocastanum L. is planted in Mex- 

 ico and is known as " castaiio de Indias." The seeds of this species are bitter 

 and poisonous. They contain much starch, and the bitter principle can be 

 removed by alcohol or other agents and the starch extracted in an innocuous 

 condition. The leaves contain a bitter principle, esculin. An extract of the 

 wood is employed for dyeing silk black. The seeds of Aesculus calif ornica Nutt. 

 were used as food by the Indians of California, after having been roasted and 

 the poisonous principle washed from the kernels with water. In the southern 

 United States the seeds of various species have been used for stupefying fish, 

 being first ground and mixed with flour, then thrown, into the water. The 

 roots also have been used as a substitute for soap in washing woolen and cotton 

 goods. 



1. Aesculus parryi A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 200. 1882. 



Northern Baja California. 



Shrub, 1 to 2.5 meters high; leaflets obovate or oblong-obovate, 4 to 11 cm. 

 long, sessile or short-stalked, obtuse, entire or nearly so, tomentulose beneath ; 

 panicles narrow, 8 to 20 cm. long ; calyx 7 to 8 mm. long, tomentose ; fruit to- 

 mentose and somewhat tuberculate. 



89. SAPINDACEAE. Soapberry Family. 

 Tree or shrubs, rarely herbs, often scandent and tendril-bearing; leaves 

 usually alternate, compound or sometimes simple, usually persistent ; flowers 

 small, usually polygamo-dioecious ; sepals 4 or 5, free or connate ; petals 3 to 

 5, or absent ; stamens usually 8 ; fruit capsular, drupaceous, baccate, or sama- 

 roid, 1 to 4-celled. 



Leaves with a terminal leaflet, or sometimes simple. 

 Plants scandent ; leaves often twice compound. 

 Fruit a 3-winged capsule or of 3 samaras. 

 Fruit of 3 samaras, the seeds borne above the middle of the samara. 



1. SERJANIA. 

 Fruit a 3-winged papery capsule, the seeds borne at the middle of the cell. 



2. URVILLEA. 

 Fruit not winged, capsular. 



Fruit thin and inflated, the cells loculicidal 3. CARDIOSPEJRMUM. 



Fruit thick and hard, not inflated, the cells septicidal. 



4. PAULLINIA. 

 Plants erect ; leaves simple or once pinnate. 

 Fruit not winged. 



Fruit indehiscent; flowers small, white or greenish__5. ALLOPHYLUS. 

 Fruit dehiscent; flowers large, purplish pink 6. UNGNADIA. 



