BLADDER-NUT FAMILY 



Corolla. — Petals five, white, spatulate, inserted on the margin 

 of a disk at the base of the calyx, imbricate in bud. 



Stamens. — Five, alternate with the petals, filaments thread- 

 like ; anthers introrse, two-celled. 



Pistil. — Ovary of three carpels united in the axis, superior ; 

 styles three, slightly cohering ; ovules many. 



Fruit. — An angular, pale green capsule, one and a half inches 

 long and three inches in circumference ; made up of three mem- 

 branous pods grown together, each ending in a sharp point. 

 Seeds two to five, brown, ovoid, flattened. September. 



The extraordinarily inflated seed pods are the dis- 

 tino^uishino: characteristic of the Bladder-nut, and it 

 requires ver}^ little imagination to make them look like 

 tiny balloons. Many of the ovules abort, but there 

 are usually one or two that mature in each cell of the 

 capsule. The seeds when ripe break loose from their 

 attachments and rattle about when the pod is shaken. 

 They are brown, shining, and bony ; those of a Euro- 

 pean species are often strung as rosary beads. 



While the individual blossom is not very attractive, 

 the full-flowered drooping racemes which cover the 

 bush in the spring give a very pretty effect. The 

 plant improves greatly under cultivation ; flowers 

 more abundantly, grows more luxuriantly and in more 

 symmetrical form than its wild relatives. 



A late blooming species from Caucasus, Staphylca 

 colcJiica, has lately been introduced. It is a handsome 

 bush with trifoliate leaves and many white flowers 

 which exhale a fragrance suggestive of orange-blos- 

 soms. 



76 



