CAPRIFOLIAC&S:. 



Stamens 5. Stigmas 3, sessile. Berry roundish, pulpy, 1 -celled, 

 3-4-seeded, hardly crowned by remains of the calyx. 



897. S. Ebulus Linn. sp. 345. Eng. Bot. t. 475. Eng. Fl. 

 ii. 109. DC. prodr. iv. 322. Most parts of Europe in culti- 

 vated ground. (Dwarf Elder.) 



Root fleshy, creeping, difficult of extirpation. Stems annual, simple, 

 erect, leafy, about a yard high, roundish, though very deeply and un- 

 equally furrowed. Leaves dark green, nearly smooth, with ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, sharply serrated leaflets, unequal at their base, some 

 of them 4 or 5 inches long. Stipules large, leafy, cut, sometimes accom- 

 panying 2 or 3 of the lowest pairs of leaflets, as well as the main foot- 

 stalk. Cymes first 3-cleft, then variously and copiously branched, hairy. 

 Flowers all stalked, of a dull purplish hue, with thick, upright, white 

 filaments, whose anthers are reddish. Berries globose, black, not 

 always perfected. Seeds 3 or 4. Smith. Roots cathartic. 



898. S. nigra Linn. sp. 385. Eng. Bot. t. 476. Eng. Fl. 

 ii. 109. DC.prodr. iv. 322. Common in Europe, the Caucasus, 

 Siberia, and even Japan. (Common Elder.) 



A small tree or large bush. Stem much and irregularly, though 

 always oppositely, branched, of quick growth ; branches after a year's 

 growth, clothed with smooth grey bark, and filled with a light spongy 

 pith. Leaflets deep green, smooth, usually 2 pairs, with an odd one. 

 Cymes large, smooth, of numerous cream-coloured flowers, with a 

 sweetish but faint and heavy smell; some in each cyme sessile. Berries 

 globular, purplish-black ; their stalks reddish. The inspissated juice of 

 the fruit is regarded as cooling, laxative, and diuretic. The inner bark 

 is purgative, or in large doses emetic. The flowers are diaphoretic, and 

 in French pharmacy are commonly employed as expectorants. 



GALIACEvE, OR STELLA'OE. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 249. 



RUBIA. 



Limb of calyx hardly any. Corolla rotate, 5-parted. Sta- 

 mens 5, short. Styles 2, short. Fruit didymous, globose, bac- 

 cate, juicy. 



899. R. tinctorum Linn. sp. pi. 158. Lam. ill. t.60. f. 1. DC. 



prodr. iv. 589. Decaisne recherches. p. 58 Levant, and the 



South of Europe. (Madder.) 



Stem diffuse, brittle, branched, angular, very rough, with sharp hooks. 

 Leaves 4-6 in a whorl, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, mucronate, 

 somewhat membranous, with pinnated veins. Flowers small, white. 

 Lobes of the corolla ovate-lanceolate, apiculate. Anthers ovate oblong. 

 Stigmas conical. Chiefly used as a valuable dying root. Said how- 

 ever to be tonic, diuretic and emmenagogue. 



446 



