SAPIXDACKE 351 



mature it forms a woody, coriaceous, or membranous capsule 

 dehiscing in various ways, or is indehiscent. In other cases 

 it is baccate or drupaceous, undivided or lobed, or consists of 

 two or three samaras as in Acer and Negundo. The fruit of 

 Dobinea is an achene. The seed is globose, or laterally com- 

 pressed, sometimes arillate ; exalbuminous in Sapindeae, 

 Acerineae, and Dodonsese ; and albuminous in Melianthese and 

 Staphylese. The testa is woody, crustaceous, or membranous. 

 The embryo is generally very large and flat, or more often 

 spirally or circinately coiled or conduplicate, transversely 

 biplicate, wrinkled or wavy, with green or yellow foliaceous 

 cotyledons, or the cotyledons are thick and fleshy, sometimes 

 conferruminate, and occasionally unequal. The radicle is 

 short and inferior, sometimes elongated and straight, or 

 curved upwards, or ascending towards the micropyle. 



The leading types of the Order may be roughly classified 

 by the form and characters of their fruits. Capsular, inflated, 

 or bladdery fruits with exalbuminous seeds occur in Cardio- 

 spermum, Valenzuelia, Kcelreuteria, and Aitonia. The fruits 

 of Erythrophysa differ in being indehiscent. The seeds of 

 Cardiospermum Halicacabum (fig. 249) are perfectly globular, 

 with a large reniform hilurn and a transversely twice folded 

 embryo completely filling them. Staphylea pinnata, having 

 bladdery capsules, and globose or obovoid, albuminous seeds 

 and a straight embryo, may be noted as a striking contrast to 

 the above. 



Spiny capsular fruits occur in Castanella and /Esculus, 

 excluding the species belonging to the old genus Pavia. The 

 fruit of /Esculus Hippocastanum is globose, larger than a 

 pigeon's egg, densely covered with strong spiny emergences 

 and dehiscing loculicidally. Each of the three cells is two- 

 ovuled (one ovule being erect and one pendulous). Either one 

 or the other may get fertilised ; and each cell matures one seed 

 only. Sometimes only one ovule gets fertilised in the whole 

 ovary, and the cell containing it grows at the expense of the 

 others, which remain small. The seed is large, depresso-globose, 

 or variously flattened by compression, and its shining chestnut- 

 brown testa is thick and leathery. The embryo occupies the 

 whole of the interior, and has thick, conferruminate cotyledons, 



