KEY TO IMPORTANT WOODY PLANTS 



103 



1. Plants erect shrubs or trees; leaflets 5 or more; moist sites. 

 3. Leaflets distinctly toothed, not symmetrical at base, taper- 

 pointed at tip; pith large; fruits berrylike (drupes). 



elders (Sambucus spp.)- 

 4. Twigs, under leaf-surfaces and fruits whitened (glaucous); 

 pith white to yellowish; stipules lacking; leaflets 7—11, pale 

 green, thick, usually hairless; margins finely saw-toothed; 

 flowers whitish, in large, flat-topped, several-rayed end 

 clusters; "berries" sky blue; large, several-stemmed shrubs or 

 small trees with fissured bark; commonest elder in e. Oreg., 

 e. Wash.; along fence rows or stream valleys. 



blueberry elder {Sambucus glauca). 

 4. Twigs, under leaf-surfaces and fruits not whitened as above; 

 pith yellowish to dark brown or sometimes whitish in new 

 shoots; stipules usually present on line or ridge between the 

 leaf pairs on younger twigs; leaflets 5-7, dark green above, paler 

 beneath, thin, hairy at least when young; flowers creamy or 

 yellowish, in round-topped or pyramidal end clusters with 

 single main axis; "berries" shiny, black or red; shrubs, several- 

 stemmed from base, with warty bark on older branches; open 

 woods at higher altitudes. 



5. Leaflets coarsely saw-toothed, almost hairless; stipules 

 dark, glandlike, crescent-shaped, usually 2, flattened 

 against stem; older branches reddish brown, smooth or 

 with corky pores (lenticels) ; "berries" shiny black; "seeds" 

 (nutlets) cross-wrinkled (rugose) ; occasional, e. slopes of 

 Cascades, common in Wallowa and Blue Mts. 



blackbead elder (Sambucus melanocarpa) . 



Blackbead elder 



I- 194070 



