126 



SAPINDACE^E. 



SAPINDACE/E. 



Character of the Order. — Trees or shrubs, with alternate or opposite, 

 simple or compound leaves. Flowers commonly irregular and unsymmet- 

 rical ; sepals 4 or 5 ; petals 4 or 5, sometimes wanting ; stamens 5 to 10, 

 perigynous or hypogynous, inserted upon a fleshy disk ; ovary 2- or 3-celled, 

 each cell 1- or 2-ovuled. 



A large order, chiefly tropical. Kepresented in North America by about 

 a dozen genera only, one of which, iEsculus, comprises species of medicinal 

 importance. 



tESCULUS. — HORSE-ClIESTNUT, BUCKEYE. 



Character of the Genus. — Calyx campanulate, 54obed. Corolla : petals 

 4 to 5, expanded, more or less unequal. Stamens 6 to 8, commonly 7 ; 

 filaments long and slender, often unequal. Ovary 3-celled, each cell 





Fig. 118.— ^Escnlns Hippocaptanum. 



2-ovuled ; style single. Fruit a large, smooth or prickly capsule. Trees 

 or shrubs, with opposite, digitate leaves. Flowers in a terminal thyrse or 

 dense panicle, often polygamous, most of them sterile. 



IEsculus Hippocastanum Linne. — Horse- Chestnut. 



Description. — Calyx obtusely 5-toothed. Corolla : petals oblong, un- 

 guiculate, fringed and wavy, white with a small red or yellow spot above 



