Sapindaceae

Read about Sapindaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Sapindaceae (from the genus Sapindus, a contraction of the Latin sapo-indicus, Indian soap). Soap-Berry Family. Fig. 35. Trees or shrubs, rarely herbs, often climbing: leaves usually alternate, mostly compound, sometimes ternately, sometimes pinnately decompound: flowers unisexual or polygamous, regular or irregular (i.e. obliquely unsymmetrical), small; sepals 4-5, imbricated or rarely valvate; petals 4-5, small or wanting, usually with scales or hairs at the base inside: disk well developed, situated between the petals and the stamens (extrastaminal) ; stamens usually 10 in 2 whorls, more or less united at the base; ovary superior, mostly 3-celled and deeply 3-lobed; ovules typically 1 in each cell; style 1: fruit very diverse, a firm or bladdery capsule, a berry, nut, or winged fruit; seeds without endosperm. The 118 genera and about 1,000 species are of tropical distribution. Only one species reaches northward as far as Kansas. The family is closely related to the Staphyleaceae, Hippocastanaceae, and Aceraceae, which see for differences; and more distantly to the Celastraceae. The small flowers, usually appendaged petals, 10 stamens, extra-staminal disk, and 3-celled, few-seeded fruit are usually distinctive. The climbing Sapindaceae often have very peculiar stems in which many separate cambium rings have taken part. This renders the cross-section very peculiar, making it appear sometimes as a bundle of woody ropes tied together, with bark between them. The Sapindaceae are of considerable economic importance. The fruits of many are used locally for food, sometimes the flesh of the fruit, sometimes the aril being of importance. The seeds of Sapindus and other genera are often roasted and eaten as food. Oil is obtained from the seeds of others. Some are used locally for medicine. The seeds and other parts of many species are very poisonous, the fruits of species of Sapindus being used to poison fish. The juice of Paullinia pinnata (cururu) is used by savages in Guiana to poison their arrows. The Lechcheuquana bee collects honey from Serjania lethalis which, when eaten even in small quantities, produces raving madness or even death. The bark and berries of many species (e.g., the soap tree, Sapindus) contain saponin which reacts like soap, on which account they are used for washing. Yellow and black dyes, used as cosmetics, are obtained from certain species. The very hard wood of certain Sapindaceae is much prized for timber. The hard, spherical, black seeds of Sapindus Saponaria are strung as beads. There are 15 or more genera of true Sapindaceae grown in America. Koelreuteria (Varnish Tree) is hardy and ornamental. Cardiospermum (Balloon Vine) is a tender annual with queer fruit. Xanthoceras is a hardy ornamental tree. Paullinia is a greenhouse climbing shrub. The following are grown only in the southern states or California: Greyia; Melicocca (Spanish Lime); Blighia (Akee Tree); Dodonaea; Ungnadia (Mexican or Spanish Buckeye); Sapindus (Soapberry). The following cultivated genera are now referred to other families: Melianthus (Melianthaceae); Aesculus (Hippocastanaceae); Acer (Aceraceae); Ptaeroxylon (Meliaceae); Staphylea (Staphyleaceae); Euscaphis (Staphyleaceae) ; Turpinia (Staphyleaceae). CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

? Soapberry family
Litchi chinensis leaves and fruit
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Sapindales Family: Sapindaceae Juss.
Genera
Over a hundred, see List of Sapindaceae genera

Sapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species.

Sapindaceae members occur in temperate to tropical regions throughout the world. Many are lactiferous, i.e. they contain milky sap, and many contain mildly toxic saponins (alkaloids with soap-like qualities) in either the foliage and/or the seeds. The largest genera are Serjania, Paullinia, Acer and Allophyllus.

The largely temperate genera formerly separated in the families Aceraceae (Acer, Dipteronia) and Hippocastanaceae (Aesculus, Billia, Handeliodendron) were included within a more broadly circumscribed Sapindaceae by the APG. Recent research has confirmed the inclusion of these genera in Sapindaceae.

Characteristics

Plants of this family have a variety of habits, from trees to herbaceous plants or lianas. Their leaves usually spirally alternate, sometimes (in Acer, Aesculus, and a few other genera) opposite. They are most often pinnately compound, sometimes palmately, or just palmate (Acer, Aesculus), with a petiole lacking stipules, but having a swollen base.

Flowers are small and unisexual, or functionally unisexual, though plants may be either dioecious or monoecious. They are usually grouped in cymes grouped in panicles. They most often have four or five petals and sepals (petals are absent in Dodonaea). The stamens range from four to ten, usually on a nectar disc between the petals and stamen,their filaments are often hairy. The most frequent number is eight, in two rings of four. The gynoecium contains two or three carpels, sometimes up to six. There is usually only one style with a lobed stigma. Most often pollinated by birds or insects,with a few species pollinated by wind.

The fruits are fleshy or dry,. They may be nuts, berries, drupes, schizocarps, capsules (Bridgesia), or samaras (Acer). The embryos are bent or coiled, without endosperm in the seed, but frequently with an aril.

Classification

Sapindaceae are related to Rutaceae, and both are usually placed in an order Sapindales or Rutales, depending on whether they are kept separate and which name is used for the order. The most basal member appears to be Xanthoceras. Some authors maintain some or all of Hippocastanaceae and Aceraceae, although this may result in paraphyly. The former Ptaeroxylaceae, now placed in Rutaceae, were sometimes placed in Sapindaceae. The family is divided in 5 or 6 subfamily depending on treatment.

Notable species

Longan fruits.

Sapindaceae includes many species of economically valuable tropical fruit, including the lychee, the longan, the pitomba, the korlan, the rambutan, the mamoncillo and the ackee. Other products include Guarana, soapberries and maple syrup.

Some species of Maple and Buckeye are valued for their wood, while several other genera, such as Koelreuteria, Cardiospermum and Ungnadia, are popular ornamentals. Schleichera trijuga is the source of Indian macassar oil.