CLASS V. ORDER III.] STAPHYLEA. 443 



GENUS XCVI. STAPHYLE'A. LINN. Bladder-nut. 

 Nat Ord. CELASTRIN'E^:. R. BROWN. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx five-parted, inferior, coloured, with an urceolate 

 disk at the base. Petals five. Styles two or three, sometimes 

 united. Fruit a membranous capsule, of two or three cells 

 dehiscing internally. Seeds roundish. Named from (rrtx.<J>vXn, 

 a bunch of grapes ; its flowers being in racemes. 

 1. Si. pinna' ta, Linn. (Fig. 506.) Common Bladder-nut. Leaves 

 pinnate; leaflets ovate- lanceolate, five to seven, smooth, serrated; 

 flowers racemose ; capsule membranous inflated. 



English Botany, t. 1560. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 110. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 147. Liudley, Synopsis, p. 75. (Ord. Sta- 

 phyleaceae.) 



A branched spreading shrub, five or six feet high, with smooth 

 greenish pale bark, with numerous leaves, similar in appearance to the 

 ash, gracefully drooping on all sides. Leaves pinnate opposite, quite 

 smooth, of a cheerful green, leaflets five to seven, opposite, with a 

 terminal one ovate-lanceolate, or ovate, with a shortly acuminated point, 

 the margin fine and sharply serrated, paler beneath, with a mid-rib 

 and numerous slender branched veins, common footstalk long, chan- 

 neled above. Stipules pale, thin, membranous, soon falling away 

 both from the leaves and leaflets. Inflorescence terminal drooping 

 racemes, somewhat panicled. Bracteas small, linear at the base of the 

 partial flower stalks, soon falling away. Flowers not very numerous, 

 drooping, of a pale yellowish green. Calyx inferior, of one leaf, with 

 a limb of five deep oblong obtuse coloured segments, as long as the 

 corolla, having at its base a coloured large urn shaped disk. Petals 

 five, alternating with the segments of the calyx, narrower, and of a 

 thinner more delicate texture, inserted into the margin of the disk. 

 Stamens as long as the corolla, with awl-shaped filaments, inserted into 

 the disk, and with roundish yellow anthers. Styles rather long, two, 

 erect, with obtuse stigmas. Fruit a large thin membranous inflated 

 bladdery capsule, of two cells, pointed at the top and open, each con- 

 taining one or two seeds, bursting internally, and seldom more than 

 one or two capsules perfected on each raceme. Seed globose, hard, 

 bony, light brown, polished, without albumen and thick cotyledons. 



Habitat. Hedges and thickets, but rare ; Yorkshire, and about 

 Ashford, in Kent. A very doubtful native, though said by Mr. Hail- 

 stone to be truly indigenous about Pontefract. 

 A shrub; flowering in June. 



The Bladder-nut is a large ornamental shrub, frequently planted in 

 shrubberies ; its foliage is graceful, and the capsules are curious, 

 remaining on the tree a long time. The seeds are highly polished, 

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