STAPHYLEACE/E— BLADDER-NUT 

 FAMILY 



AMERICAN BLADDER-NUT 



Staphylea trifblia. 



Sfaphylea, cluster, referring to the flowers. 



Tall, handsome, quick growing, eight to fifteen feet high, with 

 spreading branches; found on the borders of damp woods. 

 Ranges from Quebec to Minnesota, south to South Carolina, and 

 Missouri. Suckers freely; wood yellowish and close-grained. 



Bark. — Light, greenish gray with linear white cracks. 

 Branchlets at first pale green with white lenticels, downy; later 

 brownish purple ; finally ashen gray. 



Leaves. — Opposite, pinnately compound, borne on long peti- 

 oles. Leaflets three, terminal leaflet long-petioled ; the others 

 short-petioled, ovate or oval, two and one-half to four inches 

 long, wedge-shaped or rounded at base, finely serrate, acuminate 

 at apex ; midvein and primary veins depressed above, prominent 

 beneath. They come out of the bud involute, bright green, 

 shining, covered with white hairs beneath ; when full grown 

 are pale green, smooth above, slightly downy below. In autumn 

 they turn a pale dull yellow. Stipules and stipels fugacious. 

 Petioles angular and grooved. 



Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, abundant, bell-shaped, white, 

 borne in terminal or axillary drooping comi^ound racemes, with 

 small bracts at the base of the partial footstalks. Pedicels jointed. 



Calyx. — Five-lobed ; lobes oblong, acute, imbricate in bud, 

 persistent. The calyx, often tinged with rose-color, folds around 

 the petals so as to form an imperfect tube. 



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