Dicotyledones. 75 



i. Staphylea trifolia, L. (L., tri, three ; folium, leaf.) AMERICAN BLADDER 

 NUT. Branching, 6 to 15 feet high. Leaflets mostly 3, ovate-acuminate. Flowers 

 white, campanulate. Carpels in fruit separate at the summit and dehiscing along 

 their inner margins. In moist woods and thickets. 



m. AESCULUS. Horse-chestnut or Buckeye. 



(Latin name of an oak tree.) 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, palmately 3~9-foliate. Flowers 

 in terminal panicles. Calyx unequally 5-lobed or cleft. Petals 4-5, 

 unequal. Stamens usually 7, filaments slender and often unequal. 

 Ovary 3-celled with 2 ovules in each cell. Style slender. Fruit, a 

 leathery 3-celled and 3-seeded capsule; sometimes 2 seeds become 

 abortive. Seeds large with thick and shining coat ; scar of the seed 

 large and pale. 



1. ^sculus glabra, Willd. (L.,glaber, without hair.) FETID or OHIO BUCK- 

 EYE. Trees. Leaflets 5-7, mostly 5 ; 3 to 6 inches long. Flowers pale yellow, in 

 loose, pubescent panicles. Woods and river banks. 



2. ./Esculus arguta, Buckl. (L., argutus, fiery.) SHRUBBY or WESTERN 

 BUCKEYE. Shrub, 3 to 10 feet high. Leaflets 7-9, narrow, 3 to 4 inches long. 

 Flowers yellow with reddish center, in dense panicles. Along streams and in 

 moist woods and thickets. 



RHAMNACE^. BUCKTHORN FAMILY. 



Shrubs or small trees, sometimes with thorny branches. Leaves 

 simple and alternate. Flowers small and sometimes apetalous, often 

 polygamous, and in some instances dioecious. The limb of the obconic 

 or cylindric calyx tube 4-5 -toothed. Petals 4-5, inserted on the calyx. 

 Stamens of the same number as the petals and inserted with and oppo- 

 site them. Petals more or less concave or hooded in the bud. Ovary 

 2-5 -celled, with i ovule in each cavity. Stigmas 2-5. Fruit, a drupe 

 or capsule, often 3-celled. 



I. RHA'MNUS. Buckthorn. 



(The ancient Greek name.) 



Shrubs or small trees, with flowers in axillary clusters, greenish, 

 polygamous, and dioecious. Calyx somewhat urn-shaped, lined with 

 a fleshy disk below, its limb 4-5-toothed. Petals 4-5, or none, emargi- 

 nate and hooded, short-clawed. Ovary 3-4-celled and free from the 

 disk. Drupe berrylike, containing 2-4 separate nutlets. 



