120 



SAPINDACEiB. 



SAPINDACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Trees or shrubs, with alternate or opposite, 

 simple or compound leaves. Flowers commonly irregular and unsymmet- 

 rical ; sepals 4 or 5 ; petals 4 or 5, sometimes wanting ; stamens 5 to 10, 

 perigynous or hypogynous, inserted upon a fleshy disk ; ovary 2- or 3-celled, 

 each cell 1- or 2-ovuled. 



A large order, chiefly tropical. Represented in North America l)y about 

 a dozen genera only, one of which, yEsculus, comprises species of medicinal 

 importance. 



^SCULUS.— HonsE-CuESTNUT, Buckeye. 



Character of the Oenu>^.~ -Calyx campanvdate,. 54obed. Corolla : i:)etals 

 4 to 5, expanded, .more or less unequal. Stamens G to 8, commonly 7 ; 

 filaments long and slender, often unequal. Ovary 3-celled, each cell 



•-'•.J 



Via. lis. — /"Esculus Hippocaptanum. 



2-ovuled ; style single. Fruit a large, smooth or prickly capsule. Trees 

 or shrubs, with oj^posite, digitate leaves. Flowers in a terminal thyrse or 

 dense panicle, often polygamous, most of them sterile. 



>Esculus Hippocastanum Linne. — Ilorfte- Chestnut . 



De)<cripf ion. —Ciiiyx obtusely 5-t()othed. Corolla : petals oblong, un- 

 guiculate, fringed and wavy, white with a small red or yellow spot above 



