96 CAPRIFOLIACE^ 



1, Elder (Sambucus). 



1. Common Elder (S. nigra). — Leaves pinnate ; leaflets egg-shaped or 

 roundish, and serrated or jagged ; stem woody ; flowers in cymes. The 

 Elder, which is sometimes a bush, sometimes a small tree, is well known to 

 all dwellers in the country as being the very first bush in the spring hedge 

 to put forth its pale-green, strongly-scented leaves. As early as February 

 we may see it sprouting, even when snows are whirling over the landscape. 

 Clare mentions it in his description of Nature on " the last of March :" — 



♦' Here 'neath the shelving bank's retreat, 



The horse-blob swells its golden ball, 

 Nor fear the lady-smocks to meet 



The snows that round their bosom fall ; 



Here, by the arch's ancient wall, 

 The antique Elder buds anew ; 



Again the bulrusli, sprouting tall, 

 The water wrinkles, rippling through." 



In June, the white clusters, tinged with greenish-yellow, form a con- 

 spicuous mass in the hedge. The plant grows well on exposed places, and 

 even near the sea. It is usually seven or eight feet, but is occasionally 

 eighteen or twenty feet in height, the branches having a greyish bark, and 

 the main stem being usually rugged. The younger branches are full of pith, 

 which the schoolboy pushes out, leaving a hollow pipe fitted for his toys ; 

 and the pith has been used in electrical experiments. In olden times the 

 cylinders thus formed were used for pipes ; hence the plant had in England 

 the old name of Pipe-tree, or Bour-tree, and in Scotland was called Bore-tree. 

 Pliny says : "The shepherds are thoroughly persuaded that the Elder-tree, 

 growing in a by-place out of the way, and where the crowing of cocks from 

 any town cannot be heard, makes more shrill pipes and louder trumpets than 

 any other." The wood of the older branches, which is hard and firm, is used 

 for skewers. The autumnal berries are usually purplish-black, but are some- 

 times white. They are very mawkish and disagreeable, but the pleasant 

 spiced wine made of them is often drunk around the winter fire in country- 

 houses, and is considered cordial and wholesome, though unfit to be taken in 

 large quantities, as it is very cloying. A syrup, very good for soreness of 

 the throat, may also be made of the berries ; and these have been extensively 

 used to adulterate port wine, to which they give a rich colour, though, if not 

 well regulated, they will impart to it a most unpleasing flavour. A good 

 blue dye is also made from these fruits. They are sometimes eaten by 

 poultry which stray beneath the boughs, but they are said to be injurious to 

 them, and especially to turkeys. It seems that in ancient times the appear- 

 ance of this fruit indicated the season for sowing wheat : — 



" With purple fruit when Elder branches bend, 

 And their bright hues the hips and cornels lend, 

 Ere yet chill hoar-frost comes, or sleety rain, 

 Sow with choice wheat the neatly furrow'd plain." 



The unfolded flower-buds of this tree make, when pickled, one of the 

 best substitutes for capers, and though the scent of the blossoms is not 

 pleasing, yet a fragrant water is made from them by distillation, and they 



