Changes

Leaves undivided, lobed or digitate: infl. paniculate or rarely racemose, frequently axillary, with the terminal fls. commonly feminine and earlier: fls. unisexual or polygamous; calyx 5-cleft or 5-parted, rarely 4-merous, often colored; petals none; stamens united in a column which bears a head of 10-15 sessile anthers; pistil of as many carpels as calyx-lobes and opposite them, each carpel 2- to many-ovuled, the stigmas free and radiating: fr. follicular, each carpel distinct and either woody or membranaceous and sometimes opening and spreading into a lf .-like body long before maturity (Fig. 3691); seeds 1 to many, sometimes arillate or winged, sometimes hairy.—About 100 species, natives of the warmer regions of the world, most abundant in Asia. Sterculias have very various foliage, the lvs. of different species being simple, palmately lobed or digitate. The fls. are mostly in panicles or large clusters, sometimes large and showy, varying from greenish to dull red and scarlet. The species are grown mostly for street and lawn trees. The kinds that are generally known in this country are S. platanifolia, S. diversifolia, and S. acerifolia, the last two known in Calif. as brachychitons. All are easily grown from seeds. By Bentham & Hooker, Brachychiton is merged in Sterculia; by Schumann in Engler & Prantl it is kept distinct. See Brachychiton.

Leaves undivided, lobed or digitate: infl. paniculate or rarely racemose, frequently axillary, with the terminal fls. commonly feminine and earlier: fls. unisexual or polygamous; calyx 5-cleft or 5-parted, rarely 4-merous, often colored; petals none; stamens united in a column which bears a head of 10-15 sessile anthers; pistil of as many carpels as calyx-lobes and opposite them, each carpel 2- to many-ovuled, the stigmas free and radiating: fr. follicular, each carpel distinct and either woody or membranaceous and sometimes opening and spreading into a lf .-like body long before maturity (Fig. 3691); seeds 1 to many, sometimes arillate or winged, sometimes hairy.—About 100 species, natives of the warmer regions of the world, most abundant in Asia. Sterculias have very various foliage, the lvs. of different species being simple, palmately lobed or digitate. The fls. are mostly in panicles or large clusters, sometimes large and showy, varying from greenish to dull red and scarlet. The species are grown mostly for street and lawn trees. The kinds that are generally known in this country are S. platanifolia, S. diversifolia, and S. acerifolia, the last two known in Calif. as brachychitons. All are easily grown from seeds. By Bentham & Hooker, Brachychiton is merged in Sterculia; by Schumann in Engler & Prantl it is kept distinct. See Brachychiton.

Var. occidentalis, Benth. (Brachychiton Gregorii, F. Muell. S. Gregorii, Hort.). Lvs. deeply 3-lobed, the lobes narrow, sometimes with short lateral ones: fls. salmon-color; calyx smaller and more tomentose. W. Austral.—Offered in S. Calif.

S. acuminata, Beauv.-Cola acuminata.—S. Russelliana, Hort., is said to be an aralia-like plant with the main st. and petioles light green and the narrow divisions of the lf. very dark green. Offered in the trade but not known botanically.

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