SAPlNDACE^l- (soapberry FAMILY.) 117 



Suborder I. STAPHYL,EACE^. Bladder-Nut Family. 



Flowers (perfect) regular : stamens as many as the petals. Ovules 1-8 

 in each cell. Seeds bony, with a straight embryo in scanty albumen. — 

 Shrubs with opposite pinnately compound leaves, both stipulate and sti- 

 pellate. 



1. Stapliyl«a. Lobes of the colored calyx and petals 6, erect. Stamens 5. Fralt !^ 3-celled 



blad4ery-iDflate4 pod. 



Suborder II. SAPIIVDA.C£^ proper (including Hippocastane^.) 



Flowers (often polygamous) mostly unsymmetrical and irregular ; the 

 stamens commonly more numerous than the petals or sepals, but rarely 

 twice as many. Ovules 1 or 2 in each cell. Albumen none. Emljryo 

 curved or convolute, rarely straight : cotyledons thick and fleshy. — Leaves 

 alternate or sometimes opposite, destitute of stipules, mostly compound. 



2. .SlBculug. Calyx 6-lobed. Petals 4 or 6. Stamens commonly 1. Prult a leathery pod. 



Leaves opposite, digitate. 



Suborder in. ACERINE^. Maple Family. 



Flowers (polygamous or dioecious) small, regular, but usually unsym- 

 metrical. Petals often Tvanting. Ovary 2-lobed and 2-celled, with a pair 

 of ovules in each cell. Winged fruits 1-seeded. ^^bumeii none. Em- 

 bryo coiled or folded ; the cotyjedons long and thin. — Leaves opposite, 

 pimple or compound. 



3. Acer. Flowers polyganjous. Leaves simple^ or rarely digitately ^onipound. 



4. Bfegundo. Flowers dioecious. Leaves pinnate, with 3-6 leaflets. 



1. STAPHTLEA, L. Bladdee-Nut. 



Calyx deeply 5-parted, the lobes erect, whitish. Petal? 5, erect, spatulate, 

 inserted on the margin of the thick perigynous disk which lines the base of the 

 calyx. Stamens 5, alternate with the petals. Pistil of 3 several-ovuled carpels, 

 upited in the axis, their long styles lightly cohering. Pod large, membrana^ 

 ceous, inflated, 3-lobed, 3-celled, at length bursting at the summit ; the cells 

 containing 1-4 bony anatropous seeds. Aril none. Embryo large and straight, 

 in scanty albumen ; cotyledons broad and thin. — Upright shrubs, with opposite 

 pinnate leaves of 3 or 5 serrate leaflets, and white flowers in drooping raceme- 

 like clusters, terminating the branchlets. Stipules and stipels deciduous. (Name 

 from aracjivXri, a cluster.) 



1. S. trif61ia, L. (American Bladcer-nut.) Leaflets 3, ovate. 

 pointed. — Thickets, in moist soil. May. — Shrub 10° high, with greenish 

 striped branches. 



2. iilSCULUS, L. Horse-chestnut. Buckeye. 



Calyx tubular, 5-lobed, often rather oblique or gibbous at the base. Petal| 

 4, sometimes 5, more or less unequal, with claws, nearly hypogynous. Stjaniens 



