£#si
7 [ 1560 ]
STAPHYLEA pinnata.
Bladder-nut Tree.
PENTANDRIA Trigynia.
G en. Char. Cal. inferior, in 5 segments. Pet. 5.
Capsules inflated, joined together. Seeds 2, globose,
with a scar on one side.
Spec. Char. Leaves pinnated. Styles and capsules
but two.
Syn. Staphylea pinnata. Linn. Sp. PI. 386. Sm. FI.
B rit. 337. Buds. 131. With. 317. Hull. 65.
Ehrh. A rb. 103.
Staphylodendron. Iia ii Syn. 468»
W E have drawn this from garden specimens. Parkinson
observed it about Ashford in Kent, and Ray about Pontefract,
Yorkshire; but the latter doubted its being really wild. Our
accurate friend Mr. Hailstone, however, judges it to be truly
indigenous in the last-mentioned county. It blossoms in
May or June ; and the fruit, for the singular appearance of
which it is chiefly remarkable, is perfected rather late in
autumn.
The stem is shrubby, branched and divaricated, five or six
feet high. Leaves opposite, (not alternate,) pinnate, consisting
o f two pair, and an odd one, of ovate, smooth, serrated leaflets,
accompanied by general and partial membranous stipulae.
Flowers in compound terminal bunches, yellowish, interspersed
with narrow bractese. Capsules two, rarely 3, together,
membranous and inflated, each containing two large, globular
seeds, which when ripe are hard, light brown, and look as
if varnished.
j