SAPOTACEAE 
575 
rarely valvate or open, sometimes apparently 4-merous by union of 
2 sepals; C usually 5, imbricate, with well-marked disc between it 
and the sta. ; A usually 5 + 5 in one whorl, often with 2 absent, more 
rarely 5, 4, or 00, inserted within or rarely upon the disc round the 
rudimentary ovary. G in ? fir. usually (3), 3-loc. with terminal style; 
ovules usually 1 in each loc., ascending, with ventral raphe. Fruit a 
capsule, nut, berry, drupe, schizocarp, or samara, usually large, often 
red; seed often arillate, with no endosperm; embryo usually curved. 
Many S. are of economic value ; several yield valuable timber; 
Nephelium, Litchi, and others furnish edible fruits. 
Classification and chief genera (after Radlkofer) : 
I. EUSAPINDACEAE (ovules solitary in loculi, erect or as- 
cending, with micropyle downwards) : Serjania, Paullinia, 
Sapindus, Talisia, Schleichera, Litchi, Nephelium, Pappea, 
Cupania, Blighia. 
II. DYSSAPINDACEAE (ovules usually 2 or several in each 
loc., in the first case erect or pendulous, in the second 
horizontal, rarely 1 pendulous with micropyle upwards) : 
Koelreuteria, Dodonaea. 
[Benth. -Hooker unite to S. the Aceraceae, Staphyleaceae and 
Hippocastanaceae, placing the order in Sapindales; Warming places 
it in Aesculinae.] 
Sapindales. The 20th cohort (Engler) of Archichlamydeae (p. 129). 
The 10th cohort (Benth. -Hooker) of Polypetalae (p. 134). 
Sapindus Tourn. ex Linn. Sapindaceae (1). n sp. trop. and subtrop. 
exc. Afr. and Austr. The berries of S. Saponaria L. (Am.) form 
a lather with water, and are sometimes used as soap; they contain 
saponin. 
Sapium P. Br. Euphorbiaceae (A. 11. 7). 25 sp. trop. Seeds of S. 
sebiferum Roxb., the tallow-tree of China, are coated with fat; they 
also yield an oil by pressure. 
Saponaria Linn. Caryophyllaceae (1. 2). 20 sp. N. temp., chiefly 
Medit. S. officinalis L. (soapwort) in Brit. Its leaves lather if rubbed 
with water. Firs, protandrous, butterfly-visited. 
Sapota Plum, ex Mill. = Achras Linn. 
Sapotaceae. Dicotyledons (Sympet. Ebenales). 31 gen. with 370 sp. 
in all trop. lands. They are mostly trees with entire leathery leaves, 
sometimes stipulate. They are commonly hairy with 2-shanked hairs, 
and contain secretory passages in pith, cortex and leaves. The firs, 
are solitary or in cymose bunches in the leaf-axils or on old stems, 
bracteolate, 5 , regular or not. K 2 + 2, 3 + 3, 4 + 4, or 5; C usually 
equal in number to sepals, and alternating with the calyx as a whole, 
as in Cruciferae, rarely in 2 whorls. In Alimusofeae the petals have 
dorsal appendages like themselves, giving the appearance of more 
than one whorl. Sta. in 2 or 3 whorls, but frequently the outer ones 
are staminodial or absent; anthers commonly extrorse. G superior, 
