46 SAPiNDACEiE. [SapindacetB . 



in each cell. Styles as many as ovary-cells, usually more or less united. 

 Fruit either a dehiscent capsule, or indehiscent and succulent or separating 

 into winged nuts. Seeds usually arillate. Albumen none (except in Sta- 

 pJiylea). Embryo curved or twisted or rarely straight, with thick cotyledons 

 sometimes completely united in a fleshy mass. Eadicle next the hilum. — 

 Trees, shrubs, or climbers, or very rarely herbs. Leaves alternate or in some 

 genera opposite, with or without stipules, often pinnate or otherwise com- 

 pound, riowers usually small, in terminal racemes or panicles. 



A large Order, chiefly tropical, with a few representatives, chiefly among the opposite- 

 leaved genera, in the more temperate regions both of the northern and the southern hemi- 

 spheres. 



Suborder 1. Sapindese. Stamens within or icpon the disk. Seeds withotit albumen. 

 I>eaves alternate. Carpels or cells usually 3. 



Herbaceous or sufi'rutescent climber. Leaves much dissected. 



Capsule vesicular 1. Cardiospermum. 



Tree. Leaves pinnate. Fruit succulent, indehiscent .... 2. Nephelium. 

 Leaves opposite. Carpels or cells usually 2 3. Acer. 



Suborder 2. Staphylese. Stawens outside the disk. Seeds albuminous. 

 Leaves opposite. Stamens 5. Cells usually 3 4. Turpinia. 



1. CARDIOSPERMUM, Linn. 



Sepals 4, the 2 outer smaller. Petals 4, in 2 pairs, the 2 larger with a large 

 flat inner scale, the 2 smaller with a hooded or crested inner scale. Disk re- 

 duced to 2 glands. Stamens 8, obliquely surrounding the ovary. Ovary ex- 

 centrical, 3-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell. Stigmas 3, nearly sessile. Cap- 

 sule vesicular, membranous, more or less 3 -cornered, opening loculicidally. 

 Seeds in the centre of each cell, globose, with a thick funicidus or small aril. — 

 Herbs or undershrubs, mostly climbing. Leaves dissected. Flowers few, 

 small, on long axillary peduncles, usually bearing a tendril under the panicle. 



A small American genus, of which 2 species are widely spread also over the Old world 

 within the tropics. 



1. C. Halicacabum, Linn.; DC. Prod. i. 601; Wight, Ic. t. 508. A 

 straggling or somewhat climbing annual, or perhaps perennial, attaining seve- 

 ral feet in length, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Leaves usually twice ternate, 

 with ovate or ovate-lanceolate segments, coarsely toothed or loljed ; the upper 

 leaves smaller, narrower, and less divided. Peduncles 2 or 3 in. long, bearing 

 a double or treble short recurved tendril under the small panicle, which is 

 often reduced to an umbel of few small white flowers. Capsule flat on the top, 

 usually pubescent. 



Hongkong, trailing over shrubs, or scrambling among the herbage, Hance. A common 

 weed in most tropical regions. The Hongkong specimens belong to the variety with fruits 

 scarcely % in. diameter, often considered as a distinct species (C. microcarpnm, H. B. & K.). 

 It is fully as frequent and as widely spread as the typical form, with fruits above an inch dia- 

 meter. A nearly allied species, C. canescens, Wall., is nearly as common in India, and may 

 appear in the island of Hongkong. It is more frequently pubescent, and the shape of the 

 fruit is different, being neai'ly round, never flat-topped. 



2. NEPHELIUM, Linn. 



Sepals 4 to 6, sometimes united in a cup-shaped calyx. Petals as many or 

 none. Disk annular. Stamens usually twice as many as sepals, inserted in- 



