SAPINDACE^E 367 



serrate, oblique on the posterior basal side ; middle pair of leaf- 

 lets similar but decurrent on the petiole ; terminal leaflet oblong, 

 cuneate at the base, grossly serrate. 

 No. 4. Seven-foliolate. 



Staphylea pinnata, L. 



Fruit a large, inflated, membranous capsule, strongly reticu- 

 lated, with a strong midrib to each carpel, glabrous, two- to three- 

 celled with generally one large horizontal seed in each cell, dehiscing 

 at the apex on the ventral side of the persistent styles. 



Seed large, globoso-obovoid, horizontal, shining, pale brown, 

 glabrous ; testa bony, thick ; tegmen thin ; membranous, pale- 

 coloured ; hilum large, forming a circular depression in the outer 

 coating of the seed ; micropyle conspicuous, contiguous to the 

 depressed hilum, and terminating a basal ridge or lobe of the seed, 

 into which the radicle is directed ; raphe lateral, forming a ridge 

 along the side or edge of the slightly horizontally compressed seed ; 

 chalaza broad, apical. 



Endosperm copious, fleshy, colourless. 



Embryo large, straight, pale green, embedded in the axis of the 

 endosperm ; cotyledons broad, somewhat obliquely obovate, obtuse, 

 shallowly auricled at the base, otherwise entire, plano-convex, fall- 

 ing a little short of the length and breadth of the endosperm, lying 

 across the seed obliquely ; radicle very short, globose, obtuse, or 

 more or less flattened horizontally, pointing into the micropyle at 

 one side of the hilum, inferior in ascending seeds but apparently 

 always horizontal in this species like the seeds. 



SABIACE.E. 



Benth. et Hook. Gen. PL i. 413. 



Fruit and Seed. The two- to three-celled ovary contains 

 one or two superposed or collateral ovules in each cell, which 

 are horizontal or pendulous with a ventral raphe and an infe- 

 rior micropyle. The fruit consists of one or two drupaceous, 

 or dry, indehiscent pieces, which in the typical genus Sabia are 

 reniform and compressed. The endocarp is bony or crustaceous, 

 nut-like, and contains a single nut-like seed. The latter con- 

 forms to the cavity of the endocarp and is compressed or globose 

 with a membranous or leathery testa. It is exalbuminous or 



