sapindace^. 47 



Order XXIX. SAPINDA'CE^. (Soapberry Family.) 



Trees or shrubs, with, compound or lobed leaves, and 

 usually unsymmetrical and often irregular flowers. Sepals 

 and petals 4-5, both imbricated in the bud. Stamens 5-10, 

 inserted on a fleshy disk which fills the bottom of the calyx- 

 tube. Ovary 2-3-c6lled, with 1 or '2 ovules in each cell. 



Synopsis of tlic Genera. 



1. Stapbyle'a. Flowers perfect. Lobes of the coloured calyx, the 



petals, and the stamens, each .5. Fruit a 3-celled^ 3-lobed, inflated 

 pod. Leaves pinnately compound. 



2. Acer. Mowers polygamous. Leaves simple^ variously lobed, op- 



posite. Calyx coloured, usually r.-lobed. Petals none, or as many 

 as the sepals. Stamens 3-12. Frttit two i-seeded samaras joined 

 together, at length separating. 



3. Negnn'do. Flowers dicecious. Leaves pin7tate, of 3 or 5 leaflets. 



Fruit a double samara, as in Acer. 



1. STAPHTXE'A, L. Bladdee-Ndt. 

 S. tPifO'lia, L. (American Bladder-Nut.) Shrub, 4-6 

 feet ^igh. Leaflets 3, ovate, pointed. Flowers white, in 

 dr(;oping racemes, at the ends of the branchlets. — Thickets 

 and hill-sides. 



8. ACER, Tourn. Maple. 



1. A. Pennsylvan'ieum, L. (Striped Maple.) A small 

 tree, 10-20 feet high, with light-green bark striped with 

 dark lines. Leaves 3-lobed at the apex, finely and sharply 

 doubly-serrate, the lobes taper-pointed. Flowers greenish, 

 in terminal racemes, appearing after the leaves. Samaras 

 large, with divergent wings. — Eich woods. 



2. A. spica'tum, Lam. (Mountain Maple.) A shrub or 

 small tree, 4-8 feet high, growing in clumps in low grounds. 

 Leaves 3-lobed, coarsely serrate, the lobes taper-pointed. 

 Flowers greenish, appearing after the leaves, in dense up- 

 right racemes. Fruit with small widely-diverging wings. 



3. A. saeehari'num, Wang. {A. saccharum, Marshall.) 

 (Sugar Maple.) A fine tree, with 3-5-lobed leaves, breadth 

 and length the same, dull above, a paler green underneath, 

 the rather -narrow sinuses rounded, and the lobes sparingly 



