Deciduous shrubs or small trees. Twigs moderate, rounded, glabrous; pith rather large, continuous, white. Buds solitary, sessile, ovoid, glabrous; terminal bud usually lacking. Leaf-scars opposite (sometimes somewhat separated), half-round; bundle-traces 3 or broken into 5 or 7 or more; stipule-scars rounded Or elongated. Fruit an inflated capsule persistent in winter, the seeds rattling when the capsule is shaken.

Fig. 193. Staphylea trifolia.

1. S. trifolia L. Bladdernut. An upright shrub up to 5 m. high, with smooth striped bark; buds with 4 blunt exposed scales; pods 3-lobed, 3-4 cm. long. Rich thickets, Quebec to Minnesota, south to Georgia, Arkansas and Oklahoma (Fig. 193).