POPULAR FLORA. 



13a 



30. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. Order CELASTRACEiE. 

 Woody plants, with simple alternate or opposite leaves ; the divisions of the calyx and 

 the petals both overlapping in the bud ; the stamens as many as the petals (4 or 5) and 

 alternate with them, inserted on a thick expansion of the receptacle (disk) which fills the 

 bottom of the calyx. Pod colored, of 2 to 5 mostly one-seeded cells, showy when ripe in 

 autunm, especially when they open and display the seeds enveloped in a pulpy scarlet aril. 

 Flowers polygamous or nearly dioecious, white, in racemes: disk cup-shaped: style long. 

 Pod globular, orange-yellow. Leaves alternate. Our only species is a twin- 

 ing shrub, sometimes cal)ed Bittersweet, ( Celdstrus) Waxwork. 

 Flowers perfect, flat, dull green or dark purple, in axillary racemes : disk flat, covering 

 the ovary, and bearing 4 or 5 very short stamens, the short style just rising 

 through it. Pods red, lobed. Shrubs : leaves opposite, (Eudnymus) Burning-bush 

 Pods smooth, strongly lobed, or Spindle-tree. 

 Pods roundish, rough, {Eudnymus) Strawbekky-bush. 



31. SOAPBERRT FAMILY. Order SAPINDACE^. 

 The proper Soapberry family belongs mostly to warmer climates ; but we have 



shrubs and trees belong- 

 ing to three of its sub- 

 families : 



I. BLADDERNUT Sub- 

 family. Flowers regular and 

 perfect. Stamens 5, as many 

 a.s the petals, and alternate 

 with them. Seeds bony. 

 Leaves opposite, pinnate or 

 with 3 leaflets, having stipules, 

 and also little stipules {stipels) 

 to the leaflets. 



Shrub : flowers white in racemes. Fruit of 3 bladdery 

 pods united. {Slaphylea) Bladdebnut. 



n. HORSECHESTNUT Subfamily. Flowers po- 

 lygamous, some of them having no good pistil, mostly 

 irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx bell-shaped or 

 tubular, 5-toothed. Petals 4 or 6, with claws, on the 

 receptacle. Stamens generally 7, long. Style one. 

 Ovary 3-celled, with a pair of ovules in each cell, 

 349 350 only one or two ripening in the fruit ; which becomes 



344. Red Buckeye, retiuceti in iize. 345, Flower. 345. Same, a leathery 3-valved pod. Seeds Very large, like chest- 



ffith calyx unci two petals tiiken away. 347. Magnified ovary, ^ Finfl nrnamf.ntal trAps with r,nnr»sitft nalmafn 



divided lengihwiie. 348. Same, diiided crosswiee, ehowing u.e uuts. tms Ornamental irecs, witu Opposite paimace 



two ovules in each eel.. 349. Same, partly grown, only one eeed leaves, and floWCrS in thick panioleS. 

 growing. 350. Ripe pod burfiting. ' ^ 



Petals 5, spreading; stamens declined: fruit prickly. Leaflets 7, (^sadus) *Horsbchestn,ut. 



Petals 4, unlike, with long claws in the calyx. Leaflets generally 5, {jSsculua, J Pavia) Buckeyb. 



