GAMOPETALE 125 
pains, to which may be added the clear grasp of 
fundamental principles. 
The Elder is found in every part of the British 
Isles except in Cardigan, though in Scotland it is not 
regarded as native. Indeed, from a variety of reasons, 
superstitious, medicinal and others, it is frequently 
planted near houses and villages, apart from its 
introduction into woods and hedges by the same 
agency. 
Nowhere is it more common than by the roadside 
or in the hedgerow ina field or meadow. Anda thick 
scrub of Elder is often to be met with in woods and 
plantations, especially those of recent origin. 
The Elder has a bush or tree habit. The stem is 
thick with a furrowed ashen bark, filled with a soft 
pith, the wood close and hard, but as a whole brittle. 
It is usually erect or sub-erect, branched, with warty 
outgrowths. The branches are straight and slender, 
arching above. The young twigs are angular and 
covered with small raised pimple-like excrescences. 
The leaves are pinnate, the leaflets ovate, acute, 
dentate, smooth, dark above, lighter beneath. 
The flowers are creamy-white, in close clustered 
large cymes, the corolla rotate, with few or no 
stipules on the panicle. 
_ The berries are black when ripe, purple within. 
Elder grows to a height of 15 ft. The flowers may 
be met with in June. 
There is no honey. The flower, however, is sweet- 
scented, and there is abundant pollen. The numerous 
