362 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



tapering to a long point, serrate, of a dull, dark green above 

 whitish pubescent beneath. 



The common flower-stalk is stout, long, and channelled, bear- 

 ing a cyme of several pairs of alternating opposite, horizontal 

 stalks, repeatedly dividing by twos or threes, at as large an 

 angle as possible, so as to form a pyramidal head or thyrsus, 

 two or three inches long. At the fifth division, are the flowers 

 in pairs or threes, on short stems. The fruit, which is ripe in 

 June and July, is a round, scarlet berry, surmounted by the 

 three stigmas and the five obtuse segments of the calyx, and 

 containing a yellowish, unpleasantly tasted, liquid pulp, and 

 three stones or nuts. The variety with seven leaflets, more 

 uncommon, has its leaflets nearly sessile, and is usually a much 

 taller plant. 



Drs. Torrey and Gray mention a variety found in the Catskill 

 Mountains, with white berries. They have sometimes found 

 the plant a small tree, eighteen feet high. The common variety 

 is found in Worcester County, in the towns on every side of 

 the Wachusett Mountain. 



Sp. 2. The Common Elder. & Canadensis. L. 



Found in every part of the State and throughout Canada and 

 the United States. It is a shrub, eight to ten feet high, growing 

 in wet ground, and conspicuous in June and July for its broad 

 cymes of white flowers. The leaf-stalks, flower-stalks and 

 leaves are much smaller than in the preceding species. The 

 stem is covered with a grayish bark, marked with prominent 

 dots of the same color. Recent shoots smooth and green. 



Leaves opposite, compound, with a smooth stalk, channelled 

 above. Leaflets from five to eleven, on short stalks, oblong, 

 ovate or obovate or elliptic, round at base, tapering to a long, 

 acute point, serrate with large, hooked serratures, paler be- 

 neath, nearly smooth on both surfaces, when the fruit is mature, 

 downy beneath when young. 



Flowers white, in broad cymes five to seven inches across, 

 on long, channelled, tapering stalks, divided and subdivided by 



