TREES AND SHRUBS 



109 



Soapberry Tree. (Sapindus drummondii) 



The Soapberry Family (Sapindaceae) is represented by 

 one small tree and a shrub, both of which are well worth culti- 

 vation. The Soapberry Tree (Sapindus drummondii) is a 

 tree 20 to 30 feet high, with erect trunk and rather smooth 

 yellowish-gray bark and compound leaves consisting of 7 to 

 19 narrowly lanceolate leaflets 2 to 3 inches long. The flow- 

 ers are small and white and very numerous, in large terminal 

 panicles; while the fruit is a yellowish to black one-seeded 

 berry-like pericarp l / 2 to % inch in diameter, with a more or 

 less transparent leathery portion about the large central seed. 

 As a shade tree this should be valuable at the lower elevations 

 in the State, and we have seen it in cultivation on one or two 

 occasions. It is sometimes referred to as the Wild China- 

 berry tree, though the resemblance to the China tree is very 

 slight. 



