VIBURNUM ARROW- WOOD. 163 



Medical Properties and Uses. The root has a disagreeable odor and a 

 bitter, nauseous taste. It is cathartic and in large doses emetic ; rarely 

 used. 



S AMBUCUS. ELDER. 



Sambucus Canadensis Linne. Common Elder. 



Description. Calyx minutely 5-toothed, the teeth at length obsolete. 

 Corolla urn-shaped, the lobes obtuse, widely spreading. Stamens 5. 

 Stigmas 3. Fruit a juicy, berry-like drupe, containing 3 small seed-like 

 nutlets. 



A shrubby plant, with numerous stems, 5 to 10 feet high, with a com- 

 paratively large pith. Leaves unequally pinnate ; leaflets 7 to 11, oblong 

 or oval, acuminate, serrate. Flowers numerous, white, in compound 

 cymes, appearing in June. Fruit small, dark purple or black, edible, 

 though having a taste which is, to most people, rather disagreeable. 



Habitat. In thickets and along neglected fences from Canada to Flor- 

 ida and westward ; everywhere common. 



Part Used. The flowers United States Pharmacopoeia. The berries, 

 the inner bark of the stem, and the bark of the root are also employed, but 

 are not official. 



Constituents. Of the flowers : they have a peculiar, sweetish odor and 

 a bitterish taste. Upon distillation with water they yield a peculiar vola- 

 tile oil of a butyraceous consistence. Of the berries : saccharine matter 

 and malic acid. Of the bark : an acid identical with valerianic acid, be- 

 sides common vegetable principles. 



Preparations. None are official. An aromatic water, prepared by dis- 

 tillation from the flowers of a European species, is official with the British. 

 The inspissated juice of the berries has been employed medicinally, and a 

 wine made by fermenting the fresh juice is considerably used in some 

 parts of the country. The bark is commonly employed in infusion. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Elder-flowers are said to be slightly sudor- 

 ific ; in the form of the distilled water, their only use is as a fragrant vehi- 

 cle. The berries are sometimes used in preparing cooling drinks ; they 

 appear to have no special medicinal activity. The bark and root are 

 actively cathartic and were formerly used as hydragogues. 



VIBURNUM. ARROW- WOOD. 



Character of the Genus Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla rotate, deeply 5- 

 lobed. Stamens 5. Ovary 1- to 3-celled ; one of the cells containing an 

 ovule, the others abortive ; stigmas 3. Fruit a 1-celled, 1-seeded drupe, 

 with a thin pulp and a crustaceous, somewhat flattened stone. 



Shrubs or small trees, with simple, undivided, or lobed leaves. Flowers 

 white, in flat, terminal, compound cymes ; the marginal flowers sometimes 

 sterile or radiant. 



