H6 SAtlNDACE^E. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



filaments long, slender, often unequal. Style 1 ; ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules 

 in each cell. Fruit a leathery pod, 3-celled and 3-seeded, or usually by abor- 

 tion 1 -celled and 1 -seeded, loculicidally 3-valved. Seed very large, with thick 

 shining coat, and a large round pale scar. Cotyledons very thick and fleshy, 

 their contiguous faces coherent, remaining under ground in germination ; 

 plumule 2-leaved; radicle curved. Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, digi- 

 tate; leaflets serrate, straight-veined, like a Chestnut-leaf. Flowers in a 

 terminal thyrse or dense panicle, often polygamous, most of them with imper- 

 fect pistils and sterile ; pedicels jointed. Seeds farinaceous, but imbued with 

 a bitter and narcotic principle. (The ancient name of some Oak or other 

 mast-bearing tree.) 



1. ^ESCULUS proper. Fruit covered with prickles when young. 



JE. HiPPOcAsTANUM, L. (COMMON HORSE-CHESTNUT.) Corolla spread- 

 ing, white spotted with purple and yellow, of 5 petals ; stamens declined ; 

 leaflets 7. Commonly planted. (Adv. from Asia via Eu.) 



1. -23. glabra, Willd. (FETID or OHIO BUCKEYE.) Stamens curved, 

 longer than the pale yellow corolla of 4 upright petals ; leaflets usually 5. 

 River-banks, W. Penn. to Mich., Mo., Kan., and southward. June. A large 

 tree; the bark exhaling an unpleasant odor, as in the rest of the genus. 

 Flowers small, not showy. 



2. PAVIA. Fruit smooth; petals 4, conniving ; the 2 upper smaller and 

 longer than the others, with a small rounded blade on a very long claw. 



2. JB. flava, Ait. (SWEET BUCKEYE.) Stamens included in the yellow 

 corolla; calyx oblong-campanulate ; leaflets 5, sometimes 7, glabrous, or often 

 minutely downy underneath. Rich woods, Va. to Ohio, Mo., and southward. 

 May. A large tree or a shrub. 



Var. purpurascens, Gray. Calyx and corolla tinged with flesh-color 

 or dull purple ; leaflets commonly downy beneath. From W. Va., south 

 and westward. 



3. JE. Pavia, L. (RED BUCKEYE.) Stamens not longer than the co- 

 rolla, which is bright red, as well as the tubular calyx ; leaflets glabrous or 

 soft-downy beneath. Fertile valleys, Va., Ky., Mo., and southward. May 

 A shrub or small tree. 



2. SAPINDUS, L. SOAP-BERRY. 



Flowers regular, polygamous. Sepals 4-5, imbricated in 2 rows. Petals 

 4-5, with a scale at the base. Stamens 8-10, upon the hypogynous disk. 

 Ovary 3-celled, with an ascending ovule in each cell. Fruit a globose or 2 - 3- 

 lobed berry, 1 -3-seeded. Seed crustaceous, globose. Trees or shrubs, with 

 alternate abruptly pinnate leaves, and small flowers in terminal or axillary 

 racemes or panicles. (Name a contraction of Sapo Indicus, Indian svap, hav- 

 ing reference to the saponaceous character of the berries. ) 



1. S. acuminatus, Raf. A tree 20-60 high; leaflets 4-9 pairs, ob- 

 liquely lanceolate, sharply acuminate, entire, 1^-3' long; the rhacliis of the 

 leaf not winged ; flowers white, in a large panicle ; fruit mostly globose, 6" 

 broad. (S, marginatus of authors, not Willd.) S. Kan. to La., Fla., and 

 Mex. i<>%. 



