FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 553 



Dwarf maple. A shrub or small tree with smooth gray bark, up to 

 6 m. (20 feet) high and 30 cm. (1 foot) in diameter of trunk. Occupy- 

 ing the same area in Arizona and about equally common are the 

 typical form, with leaf blades merely lobed, and var. neomexicanum 

 (Greene) Kearney and Peebles (A. neomexicanum Greene), with some 

 or all of the leaves 3-parted. 



3. Acer grandidentatum Nutt. ex Torr. and Gray, Fl. North Amer. 



1: 247. 1838. 



Grand Canyon and Oak Creek Canyon (Coconino County), 

 Hualpai Mountain (Mohave County), south to the mountains of 

 Greenlee, Cochise, and Pima Counties, 4,700 to 7,000 feet, mostly 

 with coniferous trees, April. Montana and Idaho to western Texas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona. 



Bigtooth maple. Tree up to 15 m. (50 feet) high and 30 cm. (1 

 foot) in diameter, with smooth gray or brownish bark. The wood 

 makes excellent fuel. The var. brachypterum (Woot. and Standi.) E. 

 J. Palmer (A. brachypterum Woot. and Standi.), with smaller fruits 

 and shorter, few-toothed or nearly entire leaf lobes, is found chiefly 

 in the southeastern part of the State, but also near Prescott, Yavapai 

 County. 



70. SAP1NDACEAE. Soapberry family 



Small trees or shrubs; leaves pinnate or simple; inflorescences termi- 

 nal or lateral ; flowers mostly unisexual, small, with or without petals ; 

 stamens commonly 8; fruits various. 



Key to the genera 



1. Leaves abruptly pinnate with numerous leaflets, not viscid; flowers in large 

 terminal panicles ; fruit a 1-seeded berry 1. Sapindus. 



1. Leaves simple, viscid when young; flowers in small lateral clusters; fruit a 

 capsule, dry, winged 2. Dodonaea. 



1. SAPINDUS. Soapberry 



A small tree or large shrub ; leaves pinnate with numerous lanceolate 

 or oblong-lanceolate leaflets; flowers small, whitish, in broad many- 

 flowered panicles, with 5 petals and a basal disk; fruits with amber- 

 colored translucent pulp. 



1. Sapindus drummondii Hook, and Arm, Bot. Beechey Voy. 281. 

 1840. 



Southern Coconino County and southeastern Mohave County to 

 Cochise, Santa Cruz, and Pima Counties, 2,400 to 4,500 (6,000?) feet, 

 along streams, May to August. Kansas and Louisiana to southern 

 Arizona and Mexico. 



Western soapberry. Perhaps not specifically distinct from S. 

 saponaria L. The tree attains a height in Arizona of 6 m. (20 feet), 

 perhaps more. The fruits, which often hang on the trees long after 

 ripening, have been used by the natives of the southwestern United 

 States and Mexico for washing clothes. They are poisonous, con- 

 taining a high percentage of saponin, and cause dermatitis in some 

 persons. "This is not considered safe browse for cattle and they 

 seldom touch it" (Mrs. Collom, ms.). 



