108 SAPINDACE^E. . Negundo. 



acute teeth : flowers corymbose on short 2-leaved branchlets : sepals and petals 

 greenish-yellow, linear, 2 to 3 lines long : filaments naked : fruit with broad erect 

 or spreading wings, an inch long or less. — Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii. 172 ; Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. i. 247 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 52. A. Douglasii, Hook, in Loud. Jour. Bot. 

 vi. 77, t. 6. A. tripartitum, Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, 1. c, and Sylva, ii. 85, t. 71. 



In the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite Valley northward, ranging to Vancouver Island, and 

 eastward to Colorado and New Mexico. Usually a shrub, but sometimes a small tree 30 or 40 

 feet high ; not abundant nor large enough in this State to be of much importance. Oregon 

 specimens rarely show the leaves as deeply lobed or parted as is usual in California and the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



3. NEGUNDO, Mcench. Box-Elder. 



Flowers dicecious. Calyx minute, 4 - 5-cleft or parted. Petals and disk none. 



Stamens 4 or 5, hypogynous. Ovary and fruit as in Acer. — Trees ; leaves pinnate ; 



sterile flowers on clustered capillary pedicels, the fertile in drooping racemes. 



A genus of only four species, of the Atlantic States, California, Mexico, and Japan, each region 

 having its peculiar form. 



1. N. Califoriiicum, Torr. & Gray. Usually a small tree, sometimes reaching 

 a height of 70 feet : leaves pinnately 3-foliolate, more or less villous-pubescent, 

 densely so when young ; leaflets ovate, or the lateral ones oblong, acute, 3 or 4 

 inches long, the terminal largest and 3 — 5-lobed or very coarsely serrate ; the lat- 

 eral ones coarsely serrate or somewhat lobed on one side and much more shortly 

 petiolulate : fertile racemes slender, at length 4 to 6 inches long : fruit pubescent, 

 15 to 18 lines long, including the slightly spreading wings. — Fl. i. 250 & 684; 

 Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 327, t. 77 ; ISTutt. Sylva, ii. 90, t. 72. iV. aceroides, 

 Torr. in Pacif. E. Pep. iv. 74 & Bot. Wilkes Exp. 259. 



Common along streams in the Coast Eanges, from San Luis Obispo northward. It closely 

 resembles V. aceroides, Mcench, which ranges from British America to the Gulf of Mexico and 

 Utah, and is distinguished by its 3 to 5 smaller and narrower leaflets, which are coarsely toothed, 

 but less distinctly lobed. 



4. STAPHYLEA, Linn. Bladder-Nut. 



Flowers perfect, regular. Sepals and petals 5, equal, erect, whitish. Stamens 5, 

 alternate with the petals on the margin of a thick disk lining the base of the calyx. 

 Ovary 2 - 3-parted to the base or to the axis ; the lobes or carpels several-ovuled : 

 styles elongated, lightly coherent. Fruit large and bladdery, dehiscent at the sum- 

 mit. Seeds 1 to 4 in each cell, globose, bony : albumen thin. Embryo straight, 

 with broad thin cotyledons. — Erect shrubs ; leaves opposite, stipulate, pinnately 

 3 - 5-foliolate and the leaflets stipellate ; flowers in drooping terminal racemose or 

 cymose panicles. 



The five species are natives of as many regions in the northern temperate zone, viz. Europe, the 

 Himalayas, Japan, California, and the Atlantic States. 



1 . S. Bolanderi, Gray. Leaflets 3, glabrous, broadly oval or orbicular, 1 to 

 2 inches long, abruptly acute, serrulate : sepals 3 lines long : petals a little longer : 

 style and stamens much exserted. — Proc. Am. Acad. x. 69. 



On McC'loud's Fork, Shasta Co., Bolandcr. Fruit unknown, and size of the shrub not indi- 

 cated. 



5. GLOSSOPETALON, Gray. 



Flowers perfect. Calyx deeply 4 - 5-cleft, persistent ; the lobes ovate or trian- 

 gular; its flat base within filled by an 8-10-lobed depressed perigynous disk. 

 Petals 4 or 5, spatulate, becoming linear-ligulate, inserted on the margin or under 



