Sapindales

 This order has fifteen families and about 6,200 species.
Most the species in this order are trees, shrubs and vines.
Many of the plants in this order can be found in temperate and tropical regions.

   Aceraceae - Maple Family
Sugar MapleThere are about 200 species of trees and shrubs in this family. Leaves in this family are usually toothed or lobed. The flowers are usually only one sex and the fruit is a winged samara, usually with two parts. Some plants in this family have a sweet sap that is used to make sugar and syrup.
maple samaraPlants include the sugar maple, box elder, vine maple, Siebold maple, big-toothed maple, paperbark maple, Norway maple, silver maple, striped maple and the red maple.
   Anacardiaceae - Sumac Family

Eastern Poison IvyThere are about 650 species in this family. Plants include the sumac, mango, cashew and pistachio as well as poison oak, poison sumac and poison ivy.

  Burseraceae - Frankincense Family 

Poplar trees have soft wood that is often used to make plywood. They are also used to line streets and form windbreaks.

   Sapindaceae - Soapberry Family

There are over 1,500 species of trees, vines and shrubs in this family. Flowers have four to five petals. Most plants in this family grow in tropical and subtropical regions.
   Rutaceae - Citrus Family

GrapefruitThere are over 1,500 species of trees, herbs and shrubs in the citrus family. Plants in this species are usually found in temperate and tropical regions. Flowers have four to five petals and have both stamens and pistils in the same flower. The fruit of these trees is really just large berries!  Plants include lemon trees, orange trees, grapefruit trees. tangerine trees, kumquat, orange jessamine, burning bush and Japanese skimmia.

   Meliaceae - Mahogany Family

Chinaberry TreeThis family is best known for its beautiful wood which is used in furniture. There are  about 575 species. Plants include the mahogany tree, the Chinaberry tree and the Melia egyptica tree.

  Hippocastanaceae

BuckeyeThis family includes buckeyes and horse-chestnuts. There are about 25 species in this family. They are all deciduous trees and shrubs that grow in the Northern Hemisphere. Trees in this family are called buckeyes in North America. In Eurasia they are called horse-chesnuts. The name buckeye was given to the trees because their seeds look like the eyes of a male deer or buck. Ohio is known as the Buckeye State because of all the buckeye trees that were once common there.

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