SAPINDACE^E. 47 



ORDER XXIX. SAPINDA'CEjE. (SOAPBERRY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs, with compound or lobed leaves, and 

 usually unsymmetrical and often irregular flowers. Sepals 

 and petals 4-5, both imbricated in the bud. Stamens 5-10, 

 inserted on a fleshy disk which fills the bottom of the calyx- 

 tube. Ovary 2-3-celled, with 1 or 2 ovules in each cell. . 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Staphyle'a. Flowers perfect. Lobes of the coloured calyx, the 



petals, and the stamens, each 5. Fruit a 3-celled, 3-lobed, inflated 

 pod. Leaves pinnately compound. 



2. Acer. Flowers polygamous. Leaves simple, variously lobed, op- 



posite. Calyx coloured, usually 5-lobed. Petals none, or as many 

 as the sepals. Stamens 3-12. Fruit two 1-seeded samaras joined 

 together, at length separating. 



3. Negim'rio. Flowers dioecious. Leaves pinnate, of 3 or 5 leaflets. 



Fruit a double samara, as in Acer. 



I. STAPHYLE'A, L. BLADDER-NUT. 



S. trifo'lia, L. (AMERICAN BLADDER-NUT.) Shrub, 4-6 

 feet high. Leaflets 3, ovate, pointed. Flowers white, in 

 drooping racemes, at the ends of the branchlets. Thickets 

 and hill-sides. 



' 8. ACER, Tourn. MAPLE. 



1. A. Pennsylvan'ieum, L. (STRIPED MAPLE.) A small 

 tree, 10-20 feet high, with light-green bark striped with 

 dark lines. Leaves 3-lobed at the apex, finely and sharply 

 doubly-serrate, the lobes taper- pointed. Flowers greenish, 

 in terminal racemes, appearing after the leaves. Samaras 

 large, with divergent wings. Kich woods. 



2. A. spiea'tum, Lam. (MOUNTAIN MAPLE.) A shrub or 

 small tree, 4-8 feet high, growing in clumps in low grounds. 

 Leaves 3-lobed, coarsely serrate, the lobes taper-pointed. 

 Flowers greenish, appearing after the leaves, in dense up- 

 right racemes. Fruit with small widely-diverging wings. 



3. A. saeehari'num, Wang. (A. saccharum, Marshall.) 

 (SUGAR MAPLE.) A fine tree, with 3-5-lobed leaves, breadth 

 and length the same, dull above, a paler green underneath, 

 the rather narrow sinuses rounded, and the lobes sparingly 



