SAMBUCUS 495 



places under that misleading name. It is an extraordinarily robust variety, 

 with leaves 12 to 18 ins. long; the leaflets are often eleven to each leaf, and 

 the enormous flower clusters 10 to 18 ins. across. 



S. GLAUCA, Nuttall. BLUE ELDERBERRY. 



A tree 13 to 30 ft. (occasionally 50 ft.) high in a wild state, but a robust 

 shrub in this country 5 to 10 ft. high; young shoots smooth. Leaves 6 to 

 10 ins. long, smooth; the leaflets usually five or seven, occasionally nine, 

 ovate or oval; 2 to 6 ins. long, | to 2 ins. wide. Flowers yellowish white, 

 produced during June in flat umbels up to 6 or 7 ins. wide. Berries black, 

 but covered densely with a pale blue bloom. 



Native of Western N. America ; cultivated in Paris fifty years ago, but 

 now uncommon. It was reintroduced to Kew in 1893, and is still cultivated 

 there. Its two most striking characteristics are its vigorous growth, which 

 makes it even more tree-like in California than S. nigra is in Europe, its 

 trunk being sometimes 18 ins. in diameter; and the intensely glaucous hue 

 of its berries. These are used as food when cooked, in California. Nearly 

 allied to S. glauca is 



S. VELUTINA, Durand, which differs in having the leaves, young shoots, 

 and flower-stems thickly clothed with grey velvety down. It has been 

 cultivated in France and England as " S. c ilifornica." 



S. MELANOCARPA, A. Gray. 



A deciduous shrub, 6 to 12 ft. high, allied to S. pubens and S. racemosa, 

 having its flowers and fruits in panicles as in those species, but the panicles 

 are usually broader in proportion to their height. The berries, moreover, are 

 not red but black, and without bloom. Leaflets five or seven (sometimes 

 nine), their chief veins and midrib more or less downy beneath when young, 

 but not so downy as S. pubens. Native of Western N. America; introduced 

 to Kew in 1894. 



S. NIGRA, Linnceus. COMMON ELDER. 



A deciduous shrub, 15 to 20 ft. high, or a small tree 30 ft. or more high ; 

 young branches smooth. Leaves pinnate, 4 to 12 ins. long, composed of 

 three, five, or seven (usually five) leaflets, which are ovate, i^ to 5 ins. long, 

 | to 2 ins. wide ; sharply toothed, smooth except for a few hairs beneath. 

 Flowers yellowish or dull white, with a heavy odour, produced during June in 

 flat umbels 5 to 8 ins. across, each umbel composed of four or five main 

 divisions which are again several times divided. Berries globose, shining 

 black, ripe in September. 



Native of Europe (including Britain). One of the best known of native 

 shrubs, and to be regarded more often as a weed in gardens than anything 

 else. Still, the elder, when made to assume the tree form by restricting it to 

 one stem for 6 or 8 ft. up, is not without a certain quaintness and charm. 

 Its trunk is rough and crooked, and carries a large rounded head of richly 

 leafy branches, laden with flower in June and with fruit in September. The 

 seeds are spread by birds, and young elder plants spring up everywhere in 

 woods, tall shrubberies, etc. In the neighbourhood of more important plants 

 they must be rigorously pulled up. The species is chiefly represented in 

 gardens by the numerous varieties that have sprung from it, some of which 

 are mentioned below as worth cultivating. The type itself may be left to 

 furnish out-of-the-way damp, dark corners, where little else will live. 



No plant holds (or perhaps it is safer to say, used to hold) a more 



