SOAP-BERBY FAMILY, 



87 



Obs. This is noticed as being one of our most elegant native climbers ; 

 it is highly ornamental when trained upon a trellis-work, or around 

 the supports of a piazza. The fruit presents, in autumn, a most bril- 

 liant appearance, and is a conspicuous object in dry bouquets. The 

 plant is readily propagated by seeds and by layers. The Burning Bush 

 or Spindle Tree (Euonymus atropurpureus, Jacq.) belongs to the same 

 family ; it is an upright shrub with deeply-lobed capsules of a deep red 

 color, and presents a most brilliant appearance after the leaves have 

 fallen. * 



Order XXII. SAPINDA'CE^. (Soap-berry Family.) 



Trees or shrvls with opposite or alternate mostly compound leaves, no stipules and (often 

 polygamous) mostly irregular and unsymmetrical^/ZOTt'ers. Petals and sepals 4-5, imbri- 

 cat:^d in the bud. Stamens b -10 inserted on a fleshy disk, commonly more numerous 

 than the petals or sepals, but rarely twice as many. Ovary 2-3-celled and lobed. Fmii 

 capsalar or berry-like. Seeds without albumen ; cotyledons thick and fleshy. 



Fig. 66. The Climbing Staff-tree, or "Wax-work, (Celastrus scandens). 67. The fruit. 



