SAMBUCUS NIGRA. 



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It is the Acte of Rhases, and the Aktha of Ebn Baithar. 

 According to Dr. Adams (op. cit.), the Sambucus of Avicenna 

 is not the Elder, but the Jasmine; and the Arabians and 

 Syrians of the present day still use the inner green bark 

 for the same purposes for which it was employed in earlier 

 times. It was employed by Boerhaave and Sydenham as a 

 powerful hydragogue and cathartic in dropsies, and it is still a 

 popular remedy for the same disease. The flowers were for- 

 merly used as an infusion for erysipelas, rheumatisms, small- 

 pox, etc. It was the chief ingredient in Lady Mary Douglas's 

 pecific; and Elder-flower water and Elder-flower ointment 

 were in every domestic medicine case; the North American 

 Indians make an eye-water from the young leaves of the 



Elder. 



Description. — This well-known tree, so common to our 



hedges and woods, growing sometimes to the height of from 

 twelve to sixteen feet, rises with a woody trunk filled with a 

 white medullary substance or pith, and covered externally with 

 a rough, ash-coloured bark. The younger branches are smooth, 

 and contain a large quantity of pith. The leaves are long, of 

 a shining green colour, and composed usually of two pairs of 

 leaflets, with an odd one, which are pointed, serrated, smooth, 

 and nearly equal at the base. The flowers are numerous, 

 cream coloured, and form a large beautiful cyme, with five 

 principal branches, and many small ones at the extremity of the 

 stem and branches. The calyx is superior, permanent, and cut 

 into five deep segments. The corolla is synpetalous, nearly 

 wheel-shaped, with five deep obtuse, somewhat reflexed seg- 

 ments. The filaments are fine, awl-shaped, about the length 

 of the corolla, and bearing roundish, heart-shaped, yellow 

 anthers. The germen is ovate, without a style, but supporting 

 three obtuse stigmas. The berries are spherical, of one cell, 

 containing three, sometimes two, seeds ; convex on one side, 

 angular on the other. The berries have at first a reddish hue, 



but become of a purplish-black colour when ripe. 



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