SAPINDACE^. 47 



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



Trees or shrubs, with compound or lobed leaves, and 

 usually unsymmetrioal 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-celled, with 1 or 2 ovules in each cell. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



1. Staphyle'a. Mowers perfect. Lobes of the coloured calyx, the 



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

 2?od. Leaves plnnately compound. 



2. Acer. Flotoers polygamous. Leaves simple, variously lobed, op- 



posite. Calyx coloured, usually 5-lobed. Petals none, or as many 

 as the sepals. Stamens 3-12. Fruit Uoo 1-seeded samaras joined 

 _ together, at length separating. 



3. Negiiii'do. Flowers dioecious. Leaves pinnate, of 3 or 5 leaflets. 



Fruit a double samara, as in Acer. 



1. HiTAPHYLiyA, L. Bladder-Not. 

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

 feet high! Leaflets 3, ovate, pointed. Flowers white, in 

 drooping racemes, at the ends of the branchlets. — Thickets 

 and hill-sides. 



«. A<;eie, 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 terminral racemes, appearing after the.leaves. Samaras 

 large, with divergent wings. — Rich woods. 



2. A. spiea'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. sacehari'num, Wang. {A. aacchamm,- 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 roimcled, and the lobes sparingly 



