SAPINDACEAE 233 



Shensi, and mountains west of Peking in Chihli. 



The seeds of this Horse-Chestnut are used in the treatment of 

 rheumatism. 



.<£sculus wilsonii Rehder. 



Tree 25 m. tall. Leaflets 5-7, 10-22 cm. long, densely pubescent 

 beneath when young. Panicles erect, 16-30 cm. long. Flowers large, 12 

 mm. long, upper petals marked by a yellow spot. Fruit ovoid, slightly 

 pointed, shell thin. Seeds large, 4 cm. across, basal scar less than 1/8 of 

 the base. 



Western and Central China. 



SAPINDACEAE 



Leaves usually alternate and compound. Flowers unisexual, or 

 polygamo-dioecious, regular or obliquely unsymmetrical , small. Sepals 

 5. Petals 4 or 5, or absent, generally with scales or tufts of hairs on the 

 inner base. Disk fleshy, entire or lobed. Stamens hj'pogynous, usually 



10, filaments generally hairy, and more or less connate at the base in 2 

 series. Ovary superior, generally 3 celled and deeply 3 lobed ; ovules 1 

 in each cell. Style 1. Fruit a fleshy or leathery capsule, a berry, a 

 nut, or a winged fruit. 



About 118 genera and approximately 1,000 species, mostly of trop- 

 ical and subtropical distribution. An important family on account of 

 the large number of species yielding either edible fruits or dyes, or 

 soaps and oils. 



KEY TO GENERA 



I. Flowers irregular; fruit an inflated, bladder-like capsule 



i . . . .Koelreuteria. 



11. Flowers regular. 



A. Fruits edible with fleshy aril free from the seed, 



1. Flowers with petals; calyx deeply 5 parted, imbricate; 

 fruit (in our species) yellow-green, smooth Euphoria. 



.2. Flowers without petals; calyx lobes valvate, small or 

 obscure; fruits tuberculate, purplish red. Litchi. 



