382 CAPRIFOLIACE^. [part ii. 



Dogwood {C.fiorida). All these plants have a 

 very small four-toothed calyx, and a corolla of 

 four petals. There are four stamens and one 

 style. The fruit is a berry-like drupe. Some 

 of the species, as for example C. jiorida^ have 

 a large involucre of four leaves, having the ap- 

 pearance of petals. Benthamia fragifera^ called 

 by Dr. Wallich C. capitata^ has an involucre of 

 four leaves of yellow, tinged with red, sur- 

 rounding a head of small greenish inconspicuous 

 flowers. The fruit consists of a number of 

 drupes, grown together like a Mulberry, with 

 six, eight, or more seeds, surrounded with a 

 viscid pulp. The leaves are long and tapering, 

 of a fine texture, and of a light green above, 

 and silvery white below. 



The genus Sambucus, the Elder, is character- 

 ised by its pinnate leaves and terminal cymes 

 of flowers, which have a small five-lobed calyx, 

 a rotate corolla also five-lobed, five stamens 

 about the length of the corolla, no style, and 

 three obtuse stigmas. The berries are globu- 

 lar, pulpy, and one-celled ; each containing 

 three or five seeds, which are convex on the 

 outside, and angular within. The berries differ 

 in colour in the different species, those of the 

 common kind being a deep purplish black, and 

 those of S. 7'acemosa being red. The stems and 

 branches are of a soft wood, having a white 



