POPULAR FLORA. 
139 
30. STAFF-TREE FAMILY. Order CELASTRACEiE. 
Woody plants, with simple alternate or opposite leaves; the divisions of the calyx and 
the petals both overlapping in the bud ; the stamens as many as the petals (4 or 5) and 
alternate with them, inserted on a thick expansion of the receptacle (disk) which fills the 
bottom of the calyx. Pod colored, of 2 to 5 mostly one-seeded cells, showy when ripe in 
autumn, especially when they open and display the seeds enveloped in a pulpy scarlet aril. 
Flowers polygamous or nearly dioecious, white, in racemes : disk cup-shaped : style long. 
Pod globular, orange-yellow. Leaves alternate. Our only species is a twin- 
ing shrub, sometimes called Bittersweet, ( Celdsirus) Waxwork. 
Flowers perfect, flat, dull green or dark purple, in axillary racemes : disk flat, covering 
the ovary, and bearing 4 or 5 very short stamens, the short style just rising 
through it. Pods red, lobed. Shrubs: leaves opposite, ( Euonymus ) Burning-bush 
Pods smooth, strongly lobed, or Spindle-tree. 
Pods roundish, rough, ( Euonymus ) Strawberry-bush. 
31. SOAPBERRY FAMILY. Order SAPINDACEiE. 
The proper Soapberry family belongs mostly to warmer climates ; but we have 
shrubs and trees belon<?- 
ing . to three of its sub- 
families : 
I. BLADDERNUT Sub- 
family. Flowers regular and 
perfect. Stamens 5, as many 
as the petals, and alternate 
with them. Seeds bony. 
Leaves opposite, pinnate or 
with 3 leaflets, having stipules, 
and also little stipules ( stipels ) 
to the leaflets. 
Shrub : flowers white in racemes. Fruit of 3 bladdery 
pods united. ( Staphylea ) Bladdernut, 
II. HORSECHESTNUT Subfamily. Flowers po- 
lygamous, some of them having no good pistil, mostly 
irregular and unsymmetrical. Calyx bell-shaped or 
tubular, 5-toothed. Petals 4 or 5, with claws, on the 
receptacle. Stamens generally 7, long. Style one. 
Ovary 3-celled, with a pair of ovules in each cell, 
only one or two ripening in the fruit; which becomes 
344. Red Buckeye, reduced in size. 345 . Flower. 346. Same, a leathery 3-valved pod. Seeds very large, like qhest- 
torith calyx and two petals taken away. 347. Magnified ovarv, -p. , , , ... ., , , 
divided lengthwise. 348. Same, divided crosswise, showing the UUtS. Fine Ornamental trees, with Opposite palmate 
gTo°v!ing. es m a Ripf pki^ursan^ 6 ’ partly grown ’ only one seed leaves, and flowers in thick panicles. 
Petals 5, spreading; stamens declined: fruit prickly. Leaflets 7, ( JEsculus ) 
Petals 4, unlike, with long claws in the calvx. Leaflets generally 5, ( JEsculus , 
10 
^Horsechestnut. 
Pavia ) Buckeye. 
