(SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 115 



3. AMPELOPSIS, Michx. VIRGINIAN CREEPER. 



Calyx slightly 5-toothed. Petals concave, thick, expanding before they fall. 

 Disk none. Leaves digitate, with 5 (3-7) oblong-lanceolate sparingly serrate 

 leaflets. Flower-clusters cymose. Tendrils fixing themselves to trunks or 

 walls by dilated sucker-like disks at their tips. (Name from &fjur\os, a vine, 

 and ttyts, appearance.) 



1. A. quinquefdlia, Michx. A common woody vine, in low or rich 

 grounds, climbing extensively, sometimes by rootlets as well as by its disk- 

 bearing tendrils, blossoming in July, ripening its small blackish berries in 

 October. Also called American Ivy, and still less appropriately, Woodbine. 

 Leaves turning bright crimson in autumn. 



ORDER 29. SAPINDACEJE. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with simple or compound leaves, mostly unsymmetrical 

 and often irregular flowers ; the 4-5 sepals and petals imbricated in aesti- 

 vation ; the 5-10 stamens inserted on a fleshy (perigynous or hypogynous) 

 disk ; a 2 - ^-celled and -lobed ovary, with 1-2 (rarely more) ovules in 

 each ceil ; and the embryo (except Staphylea) curved or convolute, with- 

 out albumen. A large and diverse order. 



SUBORDER I. Sapindese. Flowers (often polygamous) mostly un- 

 symmetrical and irregular. Stamens commonly more numerous than the 

 petals, rarely twice as many. Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Embryo 

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

 alternate or sometimes opposite, without stipules, mostly compound. 



1. <32sculus. Flowers irregular. Calyx 5-lobed. Petals 4 or 5. Stamens commonly 7. 



Fruit a leathery 3-valved pod Leaves opposite, digitate. 



2. Sapindus. Flowers regular. Sepals 4 - 5, in two rows. Petals 4-5. Stamens 8 - 10. 



Fruit a globose or 2-3-lobed berry Leaves alternate, pinnate. 



SUBORDER II. Acerinese. (MAPLE FAMILY.) Flowers (polyga- 

 mous or dioecious) small, regular, but usually unsymmetrical. Petals 

 often wanting. Ovary 2-lobed and 2-celled, with a pair of ovules in each 

 cell. Fruits winged, 1-seeded. Embryo coiled or folded; the cotyle- 

 dons long and thin. Leaves opposite, simple or compound. 



3. Acer. Flowers polygamous. Leaves simple. 



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



SUBORDER III. Staphylese. (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, both stipulate and stipellate. 



6. Staphylea* Lobes of the colored calyx and petals 5, erect. Stamens 5. Fruit a 3- 

 celled bladdery-inflated pod. 



1. JESCULUS, L. HORSE-CHESTNUT. BUCKEYE. 



Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, often oblique or gibbous at base. Petals 4-5, more 

 - or less unequal, with claws, nearly hypogynous. Stamens 7 (rarely 6 or 8) ; 



