Sapindaceae

Plant Sex: Flowers bisexual or, if unisexual, plants monoecious, dioecious, or polygamous.

Flowers: Actinomorphic. In unisexual flowers, staminodes and pistillodes usually present. Nectary disk often present.

Inflorescence: Panicles, racemes, corymbs, etc.

Fruits: Loculicidal and septicidal capsules, berry, schizocarp (mericarps samaroid).

Habit: Trees, shrubs, lianas with tendrils.

Leaves: Alternate, opposite, simple or compound (pinnate and palmate); no stipules.

Examples:

SAMAROID CLADE
Acer (Maple)

A. saccharum (sugar maple). Habit of tree in flower. Collecting maple sap. Inflorescence. Flowers. Fruiting branch. Fruits.
A. saccharinum (silver maple). Staminate inflorescence. Carpellate inflorescence. Staminate and carpellate inflorescences. Staminate and carpellate flowers. Fruits.
A. rubrum (red maple). Young fruits. Mature fruits.
A. platanoides (Norway maple). Habit of tree in flower. Carpellate flowers. Staminate flowers. Staminate flower face view. Carpellate flower L.S. Fruiting branch. Fruits. Fruit opened to show green embryo.
A. negundo (box elder). Carpellate and staminate inflorescence.
A. japonicum (Japanese maple). Flowering shoot.

NONSAMAROID CLADE
Aesculus

A. pavia (Red Buckeye). Flowering shoots.

A. glabra (Ohio Buckeye). Flowering branch. Flower. Ovary X.S.

A. hippocastanum (Horse Chestnut). Habit of tree in flower. Inflorescence. Flower L.S. Fruiting branch. Fruits.

Blighia

B. sapinda (akee). Fruiting shoots. Fruits. The aril (lighter tissue around black seed) is eaten, but other parts of the fruit and seed are poisonous, containing hypoglycin A, a non-protein amino acid.

Exothea

E. paniculata. Staminate flowers. Carpellate flowers. Fruiting branch.

Koelreuteria

K. paniculata (Golden-rain tree).Habit of the tree. Inflorescence. Inflorescence with flowers and young fruits. Staminate flowers. Staminate flowers dissected. Fruiting branch. Nearly mature fruit, X.S.

Litchi

L. chinensis (litchi). Flowering shoot. Fruits, one in L.S.

Sapindus

S. saponaria (soapberry). Fruiting branch.

SIUC / College of Science / Elements of Plant Systematics
URL: http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/PLB304/Lecture19Fagal/Sapindaceae.html
Last updated: 02-Apr-08 / dln