WHITE 



finds itself rooted. But only the early summer finds the partridge 

 vine exhaling its delicious fragrance from the delicate sister 

 blossoms which are its glory. Among the waxy flowers will be 

 found as many of the bright red berries of the previous year as 

 have been left unmolested by the hungry winter birds. This 

 plant is found not only in the moist woods of North America, 

 but also in the forests of Mexico and Japan. It is a near relative 

 of the dainty bluets or Quaker ladies, and has the same pecul- 

 iarity of dimorphous flowers (p. 274). 



COMMON ELDER. 



Sambiiats Canadensis. Honeysuckle Family. 



Stems. — Scarcely woody ; five to ten feet high. Leaves. — Divided into 

 toothed leaflets. Flowers. — White; small; in flat-topped clusters. Calyx. 

 — Lobes minute or none. Coj'olla. — With five spreading lobes. Stamens. — 

 Five. Pistil. — One, with three stigmas. Fruit. — Dark-purple. 



The common elder borders the lanes and streams with its 

 spreading flower-clusters in early summer, and in the later year 

 is noticeable for the dark berries from which " elderberry wine " 

 is brewed by the country people. The fine white wood is easily 

 cut and is used for skewers and pegs. A decoction of the leaves 

 serves the gardener a good purpose in protecting delicate plants 

 from caterpillars. Evelyn wrote of it : '* If the medicinal prop- 

 erties of the leaves, berries, bark, etc., were thoroughly known, 

 I cannot tell what our countrymen could ail for which he might 

 not fetch from every hedge, whether from sickness or wound." 



The white pith can easily be removed from the stems, hence 

 the old English name of bore- wood. 



The name elder is probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon 

 aeld — a fire — and is thought to refer to the former use of the 

 hollow branches in blowing up a fire. 



73 



