2j8 HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY 



(b) Corolla tubular or long-campanulate, 



more or less irregular Lonicera 



(2) Fruit a 2-celled capsule, leaves serrate Diervilla 



Sambucus L i n n e 1753 Elder 

 (Classical name of the elderberry) 



Shrubs, trees or perennial herbs; leaves opposite, pinnately compound, 

 leaflets serrate, or sometimes laciniately cut or dissected ; flowers small, 

 white, very numerous in compound cymes, calyx-lobes or teeth 3-5, minute 

 or almost lacking, corolla 3-5 lobed, regular, rotate, stamens 5, attached 

 to the base of the corolla, filaments short, ovary 3-5-celled, one ovule in 

 each cavity, style short, 3-lobed ; fruit a berry-like drupe, containing 3-5 

 1 -seeded stones. 



A genus of about 20 species, of wide geographical distribution, 3 other 

 species besides the following occur in the western part of North America. 



Key to the Species 



1. Stems woody, pith brown, fruit bright red S. racemosa 



2. Stems hardly woody, pith white, fruit black-purple S. canadensis 



Sambucus racemosa Linne 1753 Red-berried Elder 

 Sambucus pubens Michaux 1803 



A shrub, 1-4 m. high, bark gray and warty, young shoots commonly 

 pubescent, with large brown pith; leaflets 5-7, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 

 narrowed and mostly unequal at the base, sessile or short-stalked, long- 

 acuminate at the apex, sharply serrate, finely pubescent beneath, 4-13 cm. 

 long, 2-4 cm. wide, occasionally much larger ; flowers in a pyramidal 

 cluster of compound cymes, white, turning brown in drying, 3-4 mm. 

 broad, petals reflexed, stamens very short; fruit a bright red drupe, 4-5 

 mm. in diameter : racemosa, with racemes, not particularly appropriate. 



On rocky banks, in ravines, woods, etc., common throughout the slate. 

 Distributed from New Brunswick to British Columbia, south to Ga., 

 Colo., and Calif. Blossoms in April and May, fruit ripe in June and July. 



Var. laciniata Koch, a cut-leaved form of this species, is com- 

 monly cultivated, and occasionally spontaneous. Sambucus nigra 

 var. laciniata (Miller) DeCandolle, the corresponding form of a 

 similar European species, is occasionally cultivated. 



