FLORA. 



Stamens 5-10 (rarely fewer or more), generally inserted on the disk. 

 Ovary I, 2-4-lobed or entire, 2-4-celled; ovules i or more in each cavity. 

 Fruit various. Seeds globose or compressed ; embryo mainly convolute ; 

 endosperm none. About 120 genera, including over i ,000 species, widely 

 distributed in tropical and warm regions. 



Trees or shrubs ; fruit a berry. I. Sapindus. 



Herbaceous vines ; fruit an inflated pod. 2. Cardiospermum. 



i. SAPINDUS L. 



Leaves alternate, mostly odd-pinnate. Flowers regular, polygamo-dioecious. 

 in racemes or panicles. Sepals 4-5, imbricated in 2 rows. Petals of the same 

 number, each with a scale at its base. Disk annular, hypogynous. Stamens 8-10, 

 inserted on the disk; anthers versatile. Ovary commonly 3 -lobed, with the same 

 number of cavities; ovules i in each cavity, ascending; style slender; stigma 

 2-4-lobed. Fruit a globose or lobed berry with 1-3 seeds. [Name, Sapo Indicus, 

 Indian soap, from the soapy quality of the berries.] About 10 species, natives 

 of warm and tropical Asia and America. 



i. Sapindus Drummondi H. & A. SOAPBERRY. WILD CHINA-TREE. 

 (I. F. f. 2386.) A tree. Leaves glabrous, or sparingly pubescent beneath, 1-4.5 cm - 

 long; leaflets 7-19, inequilateral, obliquely lanceolate, often falcate, entire, 3.5- 

 10 cm. long, acuminate at the apex and commonly acute at the base; panicles 

 terminal, 1-2 dm. long, dense; flowers white, about 4 mm. broad; berry globose, 

 oval, 8-12 mm. in diameter, very saponaceous. Kans. to Tex., La., Ariz, and 

 northern Mex. Has been confused with the Southeastern S. marginatus Willd. 



2. CARDIOSPERMUM L. 



Vines, with alternate bipinnate or decompound leaves, and small axillary ten- 

 dril-bearing corymbs of slightly irregular polygamo-dioecious flowers. Tendrils 2 

 to each corymb, opposite. Pedicels jointed. Sepals 4, the 2 exterior smaller. 

 Petals 4, 2 larger and 2 smaller. Disk i -sided, undulate. Stamens 8; filaments 

 unequal. Ovary 3-celled; style short, 3-cleft; ovules i in each cavity. Capsule 

 inflated, 3-lobed. Seeds arilled at the base; cotyledons conduplicate. [Greek, 

 heart-seed.] About 15 species, of warm and temperate regions. 



i. Cardiospermum Halicacabum L. BALLOON VINE. HEART-SEED. (I. F. f. 

 2387.) Slender, glabrous or slightly pubescent, 6-18 dm. long. Leaves petioled, 

 5-10 cm. long; segments stalked, ovate or oblong, acute or acuminate, sharply ser- 

 rate; peduncles commonly longer than the leaves; flowers white, 6-8 mm. broad; 

 capsule about 2.5 cm. long, globose-pyriform ; seeds globose, nearly black. In 

 waste places, N. J., D. C., Kans., and in ballast about the seaports; occasionally 

 escaping from gardens. Native of tropical America. Summer. 



Family 12. BALSAMINACEAE Lindl. 



Jewel-weed Family. 



Succulent, herbs, with alternate thin simple dentate petioled leaves, 

 and showy very irregular axillary flowers. Sepals 3, the 2 lateral ones 

 small, green, nerved, the posterior one large, petaloid, saccate, spurred, 

 Petals 5, or 3 with 2 of them 2-cleft into dissimilar lobes. Stamens 5, 

 short ; filaments appendaged by scales on their inner side and more or 

 less united ; anthers coherent or connivent Ovary oblong, 5-celled ; 

 style short, or none ; stigma 5-toothed or 5-lobed ; ovules several in each 

 cavity. Fruit in the following genus an oblong or linear capsule, elasti- 

 cally dehiscent into 5 spirally coiled valves, expelling the oblong ridged 

 seeds. Endosperm none ; embryo nearly straight ; cotyledons flat. 

 Later flowers small, cleistogamous, apetalous. About 220 species, mostly 

 natives of tropical Asia. The family consists of the following genus and 

 the monotypic Asiatic Hydrocera, 



