BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
Ill 
angular when young, but they become round and very smooth when old. The buds are remarkably long and 
sharply pointed. Every part of the plant when bruised has an unpleasant smell ; and both the leaves and 
fruit are said to be poisonous. The wood is remarkably hard and tough, and was formerly almost the only kind 
used for making spindles. It was also used for skewers, and hence the name of Prickwood; skewers having 
been anciently called pricks. The leaves are often attacked, and their pulpy part devoured, by the caterpillars 
of the little Ermine Moth, hundreds of which, enclosed in a web, may often be seen on the leaves. 
CHAPTER XXX. 
THE BLADDER-NUT FAMILY. (Staphyleace.e, Lindley.) 
Character of the Order _Sepals five, connected at the base, 
coloured, ■with an imbricated aestivation. Petals five, alternate, with 
an imbricated aestivation. Stamens five, alternate with the petals, 
perigynous. Disk large, urceolate. Ovarium two or three-celled, 
superior; ovula erect ; styles two or three, cohering at the base. 
Fruit membranous or fleshy, indehiscent or opening internally, often 
deformed by the abortion of some of the parts. Seeds ascending, 
roundish, with a bony testa; hilum large, truncate ; albumen none ; 
cotyledons thick.—Shrubs. Leaves opposite, pinnate, with both 
common and partial stipulse. Flowers in terminal, stalked racemes. 
{Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —This order was formerly included in Celastrinese, of which it formed a section; but it has 
been separated from it and formed into a distinct order by Dr. Lindley. It now contains only one British plant. 
GENUS I. 
THE BLADDER-NUT. (Staphylea, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx five-parted, with an urceolate disk. dehiscing internally. Seeds bony, roundish, truncate at the hilum.— 
Petals five. Ovarium two or three lobed. Styles two or three, Flowers large, white, in racemose panicles. {Lindley.) 
sometimes combined. Fruit membranous, of two or three cells, 
Description, &c. —The name of Staphylea, which signifies a bunch, is well applied to this genus, the 
flowers of which are produced on short racemes, which grow in tufts or bunches. Two species of Staphylea are 
common in gardens, but only one of them is a native of Britain. The genus is placed in the Linnsean class 
Pentandria, on account of its five stamens ; and in the order Trigynia, from its three styles. 
]. —THE COMMON BLADDER-NUT. (Staphylea pinnata, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 1560 ; 2nd ed., t. 446 ; and our fig. 3, in PI. 25. 
Specific Character. —Leaves pinnate. Styles and capsules but two. ( Smith .5 
Description, &c. —This very handsome shrub is generally considered a native of Britain, but it is very rare 
in this country; the only places where it has been found, being at Pontefract, in Yorkshire, and in Kent. 
The flowers, which are of a kind of cream-colour, tinged with pink, are produced in May and June; they are 
succeeded by bladder-like capsules, which are divided into two cells, though they never contain more than one 
seed. The seeds themselves are very curious ; they are extremely hard, and are of a shining brown, except at 
one end, where they appear to have been cut off abruptly, and they are quite white. They are sometimes 
bored and used for rosaries in the Roman Catholic countries. The name of Bladder-Nut alludes to the nut-like 
seed being enclosed in a bladdery capsule. The plant is also sometimes called the false Pistachio, from the oily 
nature of the seeds. 
