254. SAPINDUS DRUMMONDI WESTERN SOAPBERRY. 23 



2-4-lobed stigma. Fruit a 1-3 seeded drupe-like berry, subglobose or 2-3-lobed; seed one 

 in each carpel, obovate, with smooth testa and hilum surounded with silky hairs. 



The name is from sapo and Indus, meaning Indian soap. 



Trees and shrubs of wide distribution mainly in tropical regions and most abundant in 

 Asia. About forty species are known of which three are found in southern United States, 

 one ranging as far north as southern Missouri. 



254. SAPINDUS DRUMMONDI, H. & A. 

 WESTERN SOAPBERRY. WILD CHINA-TREE. 



Ger., Drummond Steifenbeere. Fr., Sav-onier de Drummond. Sp., Arbol 



de Jdboncillo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves glabrous or nearly so, with slender not winged rachises 

 and 9-11 pairs of lanceolate usually falcate acuminate short-petiolate oblique entire leaf- 

 lets 2-3 in. long, acute at base, glabrous above, pubescent, thickish. Flowers (May- 

 June) about 3-16 in. across, white, in terminal compound panicles 6-9 in. long. Fruit 

 ripening in early autumn and remaining, more or less shriveled, on the branches until 

 spring, oval, about % in. long, yellow, translucent, glabrous and slightly if at all keeled; 

 seed dark brown. 



An interesting tree of medium stature, attaining the height of from 50 to 

 75 ft. (20 m.), with few large branches and a trunk from 1^ to 2 ft. 

 (0.60 m.) in thickness above the strong buttresses which are found at its 

 base. The bark of trunk is of an ashen gray color, rough with irregular 

 and rather thin scales. 



HABITAT. Southern Kansas and southward throughout the region from 

 western Louisiana to southern Arizona and southward into Mexico. It 

 occupies the moist soil of bottom-lands and the vicinity of streams, generally 

 scattered or in small groups among trees of other species. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. -- Wood heavy, moderately hard, strong, with 

 very fine medullary rays and layers of annual growth marked with many 

 large? open ducts. It is of a yellow-brown color with light greenish yellow 

 sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.8126; Percentage of Ash, 1.50; Relative 

 Approximate Fuel Value, 0.8004; Coefficient of Elasticity, 83681; Modulus 

 of Rupture, 843 ; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 470 ; Resistance to 

 Indentation, 272: Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 50.64. 



FSES. The facility with which the wood splits between the layers of 

 growth makes this a useful timber for splints for the manufacture of baskets, 

 for which it is employed in Texas, as the wood of the Black Ash of similar 

 properties is employed in the Northern States. 



