114 XXVII. SAPINDACE^. [Dodoncea. 



tropical Africa, tropical America, Florida, China, Java, Polynesia, and Australia. 

 Fl. R. S. Fr. C. S. 



A handsome evergreen shrub. In North-West India not more than 10 ft. 

 high ; on the mountains of Southern India a small tree 20 ft. high, with terete, 

 compressed, or trigonous twigs. Wood light brown or bright yellow, hard, 

 compact, and close-grained. Medullary rays indistinct. Annual rings fine, 

 26 on a specimen of 2J in. radius. The branches much used to support 

 the earth of flat roofs, durable when thus employed. The shrub grows readily 

 from seed without much water in arid places, and is planted in live hedges, for 

 which it answers well. 



6. STAPHYLEA, Linn. 



Shrubs or smaU trees with opposite, stipulate, trifoliolate, or pinnate leaves. 

 Leaflets with setaceous, deciduous stipels. Inflorescence definite, flowers 

 bisexual. Calyx S-paited, coloured, the segments imbricated in bud, 2 out- 

 side, 2 inside, 1 intermediate. Disc 5-lobed. Petals 5, alternate with the 

 sepals, erect, imbricate in bud. Stamens 5, inserted below the edge of the 

 disc, alternate with the petals ; anthers oblong, versatile, fixed near the mid- 

 dle, 2-ceUed, introrse, the cells parallel, opening longitudinally. Ovary of 

 2 or 3 distinct carpels, more or less united by their inner angles ; styles fili- 

 form, distinct or more or less coherent. Ovules 6-8 in each carpel, attached 

 to the inner angle in 2 series. Fruit a membranous, usually vesicular 

 inflated capsule, 3-ceUed, 3-lobed, dehiscent at the summit. Seeds few or 

 solitary in each cell, testa thick and bony. Embryo straight, in the axis 

 of a fleshy albumen ; cotyledons oval or orbicular, flat and thin ; radicle 

 short. 



I. S. Emodi, Wall. — Vern. Mdrchdb (Serpent-stick), Afg. ; Ncigdaun, 

 chltra (spotted), clmal, ian-baJchru, idn-shdgali, guldar, kdghania, Pb. 



Glabrous, young leaves with slight farinose pubescence beneath. Leaves 

 trifoliolate J petioles round, glabrous, as long as, or longer than, the 

 leaflets ; leaflets nearly equal, ovate, acuminate, serrate, pale beneath, the 

 terminal petiolulate, the lateral sessile. Stipules linear, membranous; 

 stipels setaceous, both early deciduous. Flowers on short, compact, ter- 

 minal, erect or drooping panicles, with numerous membranous, decidu- 

 ous bracts. Petals as long as calyx-segments, both white. Stamens as long 

 or a little longer; anther-cells attached to a linear, apiculate connective. 

 Capsule _2-3 in. long, 1|^ in. diam., yellowish white, narrowed at base, 

 broad, tricuspidate at the top, hanging on pedicels |-1 in. long. Seeds 

 compressed, shining grey. 



Trans-Indus on the Safed Koh. North- West Himalaya from the Indus to 

 the Sarda, generally at elevations between 6000 and 7000 ft., descends to 2500 

 and ascends to 9000 ft. Usually scattered singly in mixed and coniferous forests, 

 where it attains the size of a moderate tree. Fl. April, May ; the fruit ripens 

 from Jime-Aug., hanging like grey bells among the dark green foliage. 



Twigs smooth, dark, or greenish grey, rugose and longitudinally striate, with 

 large, oblong, white spots. Bark of stem spotted. Afghans and some tribes of 

 the North- West Himalaya carry sticks of it, which are supposed to keep off 

 snakes, probably because the spotted bark resembles a snake-skin. 



There is but little difference between this species and the North American 



