82 SAPINDACE^E. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



ORDER 36. SAPINDACE^E. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



Trees, shrubs, or rarely herbs, with simple or compound leaves, mostly un- 

 symmetrical and often irregular flowers, the 4-5 sepals and petals both im- 

 bricated in aestivation, the 5-10 stamens inserted on a fleshy (perigynous or 

 hypogynous) disk, a 2 - 3-celled and lobed ovary, with 1-2 (or rarely more) 

 ovules in each cell, and the embryo (except Staphylea) curved or convolute, 

 without albumen. A large order, the true Sapindacese principally tropi- 

 cal, none of them indigenous in the Northern States, except the Buckeyes: 

 to it may be appended the Bladder-nut and Maple Families. 



SUBORDER I. STAPHYLEACE^. THE 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, stipulate and stipellate. 



1. STAPHYLEA. Lobes of the colored calyx and petals 5, erect. Stamens 6. Fruit a 3-celled 



bladdery -inflated pod. 



SUBORDER II. SAPINDACE^E proper (including HIPPOCASTANE.E). 

 Flowers (often polygamous) mostly unsymmetrical and irregular; the 

 stamens commonly more numerous than the petals or sepals, but rarely 

 twice as many. Ovules 1 - 2 in each cell. Albumen none. Embryo 

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

 alternate or sometimes opposite, destitute of stipules, mostly compound. 



2. ^ESCULUS. Calyx 6-lobed. Petals 4 or 6. Stamens commonly 7. Fruit a leathery pod. 



Leaves opposite, digitate. 



SUBORDER HI. ACERINE^E. THE MAPLE FAMILY. 



Flowers (polygamous or dioecious) regular, but usually unsymmetrical. 

 Petals sometimes wanting. Ovary 2-lobed and 2-celled, with a pair of 

 ovules in each cell. Winged fruits 1-seeded. Albumen none. Embryo 

 coiled or folded ; the cotyledons long and thin. Leaves opposite, simple 

 or compound. 



3. ACER. Flowers polygamous. Leaves simple, or rarely digitately compound 



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



SUBORDER I. STAPHYUGACE^E. THE BLADDER-NUT FAMILY. 



1. STAPHYJLEA, L. BLADDER-NUT. 



Calyx deeply 5-parted, the lobes erect, whitish. Petals 5, erect, spatulate, 

 inserted on the margin of the thick perigynous disk which lines the base of the 

 calyx. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals. Pistil of 3 several-ovuled carpels, 

 united in the axis, their long styles cohering at first. Pod large, membrana 

 ceous, inflated, 3-lobcd, 3-celled, at length bursting at the summit; the cells 

 containing 1-4 bony anatropous seeds. Aril none. Embryo large and straight, 

 in scanty albumen ; cotyledons broad and thin. Upright shrubs, with opposite 

 pinnate leaves of 3 or 5 sen-ate leaflets, and white flowers in drooping raceme- 



