106 XXVII. SAPlSDACEiE. [Sapindus. 



3. SAPINDUS, Linn. 

 Trees or shrubs, with alternate, abruptly pinnate, or unifoliolate leaves, 

 without stipules. Flowers polygamous, in terminal or axillary panicles. 

 Calyx of 5 somewhat unequal sepals, connate at base, imbricate in bud, 

 deciduous. Petals 4 or 5, nearly equal, alternate with the sepals, claw 

 thickened, and often with one or two scales on the inside. Disc fleshy, 

 cup-shaped or flat, circular, hypogynous. Stamens generally 8-10, in- 

 serted in the centre of the disc round the ovary, or in the male flowers 

 round the rudiment of the ovary; filaments hairy; anthers versatile. 

 Ovary generally 2-4-lobed, usually 3-celled ; ovule solitary in each cell, 

 erect from the base, or ascending from the inner angle above the base. 

 Fruit fleshy or coriaceous, consisting of 1-3 distinct indehisoent carpels. 

 Seed globose ; hilum inferior, without arillus ; the embryo iucurved or 

 straight ; cotyledons fleshy ; radicle short. 



Several species of this genus are cultivated in North and Central India 

 on account of the fleshy pulp of the fruit, which contains a peculiar substance, 

 saponine, with properties iu many respects similar to soap. The pulp makes a 

 lather with water, and is used extensively for washing, either by itself, or miixed 

 with soap. For flannel and Kashmir shawls it is greatly preferred to soap, and 

 some varieties are specially esteemed for washing silk. In Bengal, Central and 

 Northern India, the tree is generally known under the name of Riiha, and the 

 Sanskrit name is Arishta. The species and varieties of this genus will repay 

 further study. Three species are here enumerated, in accordance with Box- 

 burgh's Flora Indica, but it is probable that the two first should be united into 

 one species. 



Leaflets 4-6, generally opposite ; main lateral nerves 6-12 ; disc 

 and ovary hirsute ; anthers oblong, apiculate. 



Leaflets ovate or oblong, acuminate \. S. laurif alius. 



Leaflets ovate, obovate or oblong, obtuse or emarginate . . 2. S. emarginatvs. 

 Leaflets 8-14, generally alternate ; main lateral nerves 20 or more ; 



disc and ovary glabrous ; anthers ovate, not apiculate . . Z. 3. detergens. 



1. S. laurifolius, Vahl; Eoxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 278 ; W. & A. Prodr. 111. 



Leaflets ovate or oblong, acuminate, 2-3 pair, those of the terminal pair 

 longest, 3-7 in. long, glabrous above, soft pubescent beneath ; main 

 lateral nerves 8-12 on either side of the midrib, with a few shorter inter- 

 mediate ones. Eamifications of inflorescence and calyx clothed with 

 rusty pubescence. Cymes generally 3-flowered, supported by 3 short 

 bracts, lateral flowers often abortive. Male flowers numerous, bisexual 

 flowers few, often on distinct branches. Sepals 5, obtuse, imbricate, 2 

 outside, 2 inside, 1 intermediate, the left edge overlapping. Petals 4 or 

 5, oblong or lanceolate, outside with ad pressed, tawny hairs, inside glab- 

 rous, but with long white hairs along the edge, with a membranous scale 

 fringed with a dense mass of long white hairs, more or less attached to 

 the claw and inner surface of the petal, probably free when quite young, 

 sometimes attached along the middle line only, and free at the sides, in 

 which case it happens that the two edges of the scale separate from the 

 middle part, and appear as lateral appendices. In the descriptions quoted 

 (Fl. Ind. and Prodr.), the petals are said to be w'ithout scales. Beddome 



