SAPINDAGE^-SOAPBERRY FAMILY 



BALLOON VINE. LOVE-IN-A-PUFF 



CardiospSrmum Halicdcabum. 



Cardiospermum, Greek, heart-seed; from the white, hfeart-shaped 

 spot on the round black seed. 



A rapid-growing, annual climber, doing best in a warm situation; 

 with small white flowers, and seed-vessels that look like tiny balloons. 



Native to the South-western States and 

 Mexico. Summer. 



Stem. — Grooved, climbing by hook- 

 like tendrils in the flower cluster. 



Leaves. — Alternate, twice ternate, 

 coarsely serrate. 



Flowers. — Small, white, in few- 

 flowered axillary dusters. 



Sepals. — Four, the inner pair larger. 



Petals. — Four, each with an append-i 

 age on the inner face; disk enlarged into 

 two glands, one before each lower petal. 



Stamens. — Eight, filaments of varying 

 length. 



Ovary. — Triangular, three-celled, one 

 ovule in each cell. 



Po</.— Bladdery, inflated, three-lobed 

 with winged ridges, containing one to three bony seeds the size of 

 small peas, each with a heart-shaped aril adherent to the base. 



The inflated pod. of the Balloon Vine is an inch or more in 

 diameter. As the round black seeds are each marked with a 

 white heart, in accordance with the old idea of signatures, 

 they have long been considered efl&cacious medicine for heart 

 diseases. 



276 



Balloon Vine. Cardiospdrmum 

 Halicdcabum 



