2 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. SAPINDACEZ. 
to the valley of the Washita River in southern Arkansas and to southern Kansas, through Texas to the 
mountain valleys of southern New Mexico and southern Arizona, and into northern Mexico. On the 
Atlantic coast it is a small tree, rarely exceeding twenty feet in height, and is not common; it is most 
abundant and reaches its greatest size along the river bottoms of eastern Texas, where it grows in com- 
pany with the White Elm, the Texas Elm, the Honey Locust, and the Hackberry, or often occupies 
considerable areas to the exclusion of other trees. It prefers moist clay soil, although it sometimes 
grows on dry limestone uplands. 
The wood of Sapindus marginatus is heavy, strong, and close-grained, with several rows of large 
open ducts clearly marking the layers of annual growth, and thin obscure medullary rays. It is light 
brown tinged with yellow, with lighter colored sapwood composed of about thirty layers of annual 
growth. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.8126, a cubic foot weighing 50.64 pounds. 
It splits easily into thin strips, and is largely employed in Texas in the manufacture of baskets used in 
harvesting cotton, and in New Mexico for the frames of pack-saddles. The fruit is eaten in Texas 
by cattle and deer. 
Sapindus marginatus was discovered by the French botanist Michaux on the coast of Georgia, 
and was first described by Lamarck, who confounded it with the West Indian S. Saponaria. It is now 
occasionally cultivated in the gardens of southern Europe and in Algeria.’ 
1 Naudin, Manuel de l’Acclimateur, 487. 
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 
Prate LXXVI. Sapinpus MARGINATUS. 
. A flowering branch, natural size. 
. Diagram of a flower. 
A staminate flower, enlarged. 
. Vertical section of a staminate flower, enlarged. 
A petal, enlarged. 
A stamen, rear and front views, enlarged. 
. A pistillate flower, enlarged. 
- Vertical section of a pistillate flower, enlarged. 
WCONATP WHE 
. A pistil cut transversely, enlarged. 
a 
—) 
. Vertical section of a pistil, enlarged. 
11. An ovule, much magnified. 
PuaTE LXXVII. SaApimnpus MARGINATUS. 
. A fruiting branch, natural size. 
- Vertical section of a fruit, slightly enlarged. 
1 
2 
3. A seed, natural size. 
4, An embryo, natural size. 
5 
. A winter-branchlet, natural size. 
