SAPINDACE^E. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 115 



3. AMPELOPSIS, Miclix. VIRGINIAN CREEPER. 



Calyx slightly 5-toothed. Petals concave, thick, expanding before they fall. 

 Disk none. Leaves digitate, with 5 (3-7) oblong-lanceolate sparingly serrate 

 leaflets. Flower-clusters cymose. Tendrils fixing themselves to trunks or 

 walls by dilated sucker-like disks at their tips. (Name from fi/iweAos, a vine, 

 and o^ns, appearance) 



1. A. quinquefolia, Michx. A common woody vine, in low or rich 

 grounds, climbing extensively, sometimes by rootlets as well as by its disk- 

 bearing tendrils, blossoming in July, ripening its small blackish berries in 

 October. Also called American Ivy, and still less appropriately, Woodbine. 

 Leaves turning bright crimson in autumn. 



ORDER 29. SAPINDACE^aE. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with simple or compound leaves, mostly unsymmetrical 

 and often irregular flowers ; the 4-5 sepals and petals imbricated in (esti- 

 vation ; the 5-10 stamens inserted on a fleshy (perigynous or hypogynaus) 

 disk ; a 2 - 3-celled and -lobed ovary, with 1-2 (rarely more) ovules in 

 each cell ; and the embryo (except Staphylea) curved or convolute, with- 

 out albumen. A large and diverse order. 



SCBORDKR I. Sapindeae. Flowers (often polygamous) mostly un- 

 symmetrical and irregular. Stamens commonly more numerous than the 

 petals, rarely twice as many. Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Embryo 

 curved or convolute, rarely straight ; cotyledons thick and fleshy. Leaves 

 alternate or sometimes opposite, without stipules, mostly compound. 



1. .53sculus. Flowers irregular. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 4 or 5. Stamens commonly 7. 



Fruit a leathery 3-valved pod Leaves opposite, digitate. 



2. Sapindus. Flowers regular. Sepals 4 - 5, in two rows. Petals 4 -5. Stamens 8-10. 



Fruit a globose or 2-3-lobed berry Leaves alternate, pinnate. 



SUBORDER II. Acerineae. (MAPLE FAMILY.) Flowers (polyga- 

 mous or dioecious) small, regular, but usually unsymmetrical. Petals 

 often wanting. Ovary 2-lobed and 2-celIed, with a pair of ovules in each 

 cell. Fruits winged, 1 -seeded. Embryo coiled or folded ; the cotyle- 

 dons long and thin. Leaves opposite, simple or compound. 



3. Acer. Flowers polygamous. Leaves simple. 



4. Negundo. Flowers dioecious. Leaves pinnate, with 3-5 leaflets. 



SUBORDER III. Staphyleae. (BLADDER-NUT FAMILY.) Flowers 

 (perfect) regular; stamens as many as the petals. Ovules 1 -8 in each 

 cell. Seeds bony, with a straight embryo in scanty albumen. Shrubs 

 with opposite pinnately compound leaves, both stipulate and stipellate. 



5. Staphylea. Lobes of the colored calyx and petals 5, erect. Stamens 5. Fruit a 3- 



cellfd bladdery-inflated pod. 



1. .33 S C U L U S, L. HORSE-CHESTNUT. BUCKEYE. 



Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, often oblique or gibbous at base. Petals 4 - 5, more 

 or less unequal, with claws, nearly hypogynous. Stamens 7 (rarely 6 or 8) ; 



