



ACERACEAE (MAPLE FAMILY) 557 



1. P. Cnbyi Gray. Leaves linear to linear-oblong or oblong-obovate, obtuse, 

 6-25 ram. long; pedicels very slender, often solitary, shorter than the leaves; 

 fruit 4 ram. long. Steep rocky slopes, rats, of s. Va. and W. Va. 



3. CELASTRUS L. STAFF TREE. SHRUBBY BITTER-SWEET 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Petals (crenulate) and stamens 5, inserted on 

 the margin of a cup-shaped disk which lines the base of the calyx. Pod globose, 

 orange-color and berry-like, 3-celled, 3-valved, loculicidal. Seeds 1 or 2 in 

 each cell, erect, inclosed in a pulpy scarlet aril. Leaves alternate. Flowers 

 small, greenish, in raceme-like clusters terminating the branches. (An ancient 

 Greek name for some evergreen.) 



1. C. scandens L. (WAXWORK, CLIMBING BITTER-SWEET.) Twining 

 shrub; leaves ovate-oblong, finely serrate, pointed. Along streams and in 

 thickets, Me. to Man., and southw. June. The opening orange-colored pods, 

 displaying the scarlet covering of the seeds, are very ornamental in autumn. 



STAPHYLEACEAE (BLADDER NUT FAMILY) 



Shrubs or small trees with opposite chiefly pinnate stipulate leaves and perfect 

 flowers. Stamens as many as and alternate with the petals, borne outside a 

 large disk. Fruit (in ours) a bladdery inflated 2-3-horned capsule. Seeds (in 

 ours) with scanty albumen and straight embryo. Chiefly Asiatic. 



1. STAPHYLEA L. BLADDER NUT 



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

 Pistil of 3 several-ovuled carpels, united in the axis, their long styles lightly 

 cohering. Pod large, inflated, 3-celled, at length bursting at the summit ; the 

 cells containing 1-4 bony anatropous seeds. Cotyledons broad and thin. Up- 

 right shrubs, with opposite pinnate leaves of 3 or 5 serrate leaflets, and white 

 flowers in drooping raceme-like clusters terminating the branchlets. Stipules 

 and stipels deciduous. (Name from o-ra^uX^, a cluster.} 



1. S. trifblia L. (AMERICAN B.) Leaflets 3, ovate, pointed. Thickets, in 

 moist soil, w. Que. and w. N. E. to Minn., and southw. May. Shrub, 3 m. 

 high, with greenish striped branches. 



ACERACEAE (MAPLE FAMILY) 



Trees and shrubs with watery saccharine sap, opposite simple and palmately 

 lobed or more rarely palmately or pinnately divided leaves, small regular mostly 

 polygamous or dioecious sometimes apetalous flowers. Ovary 2-celled, 2-lobed ; 

 ovules 2 in each cell. Embryo coiled or folded ; cotyledons long and thin. 

 Chiefly trees of temperate regions. 



1. ACER [Tourn.] L. MAPLE 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Calyx colored, 5 (rarely 4-12)-lobed or -parted. 

 Petals either none or as many as the lobes of the calyx, equal, with short claws 

 if any, inserted on the margin of a perigynous or hypogynous disk. Stamens 3- 

 12. Ovary 2-celled, with a pair of ovules in each cell ; styles 2, long and slender, 

 united only below, stigmatic down the inside. From the back of each carpel 

 grows a wing, converting the fruit into two 1-seeded at length separable samaras 

 or keys. Trees or sometimes shrubs, with opposite palmately lobed leaves, and 

 small flowers. Pedicels not jointed. (The classical name, from the Celtic c, 

 hard.) 



