440 SAMBUCUS. [CLASS V. ORDER HI. 



GENUS XCV. SAMBU'CUS— Linn. Elder. 



Nat. Old. Caprifolia'ce.e. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Cali/x five-cleft, superior. Corolla wheel-shaped, of 

 five at length reflexed lobes. Stigmas sessile. Fruit a succulent 

 berry, three or four seeded. — Named from o-aip./3i;x*), a musical 

 instrument, said formerly to have been made of this plant ; and 

 the Greek word is derived from the IFebrew sebeka, a kind of 

 harp, or a triangular instrument, strung with cords; in the Book 

 of Daniel, ch. iii., v. 5, 7, 10, 1.5, it is translated sachbut. 



1. S. Ebu'lus, Linn. {V\g. 503.) Du-arf Elder, or Dane-xiort. 

 Stem herbaceous ; cymes of three principal branches ; stipules leafy, 

 ovate, serrated. 



English Botany, t. 475. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. 108 — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 146. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 132. 



Root fleshy, long, creeping. Stem herbaceous, from two to three 

 feet high, simple, angular, furrowed unequally, roughish, leafy. 

 Leaves opposite, pinnate, with a long striated common footstalk, 

 roughish, slightly dilated at the base, with leafy ovate serrated stipules, 

 and with three or four pairs of lea/lets, and an odd one, narrow, 

 lanceolate, from one to lour inches long, smooth, dark green, paler 

 beneath, and mostly somewhat hairy, with a prominent mid-rib and 

 numerous branched veins, the margin finely serrated, and the base 

 unequal. Injlorescence a terminal cyme, of three principal smooth or 

 hairy branches, much divided above. Flowers numerous, crowded, 

 purplish, equal. Calyx with five ovate acute persistent teeth. Co- 

 rolla wheel-shaped, with five ovate acute spreading lobes, at length 

 reflexed. Stamens with awl-shaped filaments, as long as the corolla 

 and large ovate anthers, of a purple colour. Stigmas sessile. Fruit 

 a small round purplish black berry, with from three to five angular seed*. 



Habitat. — Road sides and waste places ; not very common in 

 England and Scotland, or Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering in June. 



The root and whole plant has a disagreeable fcclid smell, is violently 

 purgative, and sometimes emetic. It is not unfrequently used by the 

 country people, but is a violent medicine. It is said to drive away 

 moles, and its leaves sprinkled in barns and other places will keep 

 away mice, but this we have not found to be the case, nor will those 

 of the following species, as is reported of it also. 



2. "S. ni'gra, Linn. (Fig. 501) Common Elder. Stem woody; 

 cymes of five principal branches ; stipules obsolete. 



English Botany, t. 47(3. — English Flora, vol. ii. p. li^i). — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 117. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 13'J. 

 /3. leucocarpa. Fruit \Nliilc. 



