CAPEIFOLIACEAE. 



371 



Family 2. CAPRIFOLIACEAE Vent. 



Honeysuckle Family. 



Shrubs, trees^ vines, or perennial herbs, with opposite leaves and per- 

 fect, mostly cymose flowers. Stipules none, or sometimes present. Calyx- 

 tube adnate to the ovary, its limb 3-5-toothed or 3-5-lobed. Corolla g-amo- 

 petalous, the limb 5-lobed, sometimes 2-lipped. Stamens 5 (rarely 4), in- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes; anthers 

 versatile. Ovary inferior, 1-6-celled; style slender; stigma capitate, or 2- 

 5-lobed, the lobes stigmatic at the summit; ovules anatropous. Fruit a 

 1-6-celled berry, drupe, or capsule. Seeds oblong, globose, or angular; 

 seed-coat membranous or crustaceous, embryo usually small, placed near 

 the hilum; radicle terete; cotyledons ovate. About 10 genera and 300 

 species, mostly of the northern hemisphere. 



Corolla rotate, small, regiilar ; style deeply lobed. 1. Samhuciis. 



Corolla campanulate to tubular, large, often 2-lipped ; style slender. 2. Lonicera. 



1. SAMBUCUS L. 



Shrubs or trees (or some species perennial herbs), with opposite pinnate 

 leaves, serrate or laciniate leaflets, and small white or pinkish flowers in com- 

 pound depressed or thyrsoid cymes. Calyx-tube ovoid or turbinate, 3-5-toothed 

 or 3-5-lobed. Corolla rotate or slightly campanulate, regular, 3-5-lobed. 

 Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla ; filaments slender ; anthers ob- 

 long. Ovary 3-5-celled; style short, 3-parted; ovules 1 in each cavity, pendu- 

 lous. Drupe berry-like, containing 3-5, 1-seeded nutlets. Endosperm fleshy; 

 embryo nearly as long as the seed. [Latin name of the elder.] About 25 

 species, of wide geographic distribution. Type species: Samhucus nigra L. 



1. Sambucus intermedia Carr. West 

 Indian Elder. (Fig. 404.) A small tree, 

 5°-12° high, glabrous, except the brownish- 

 pubescent young foliage. Leaves 1-2-pin- 

 nate, 10' long or less; leaflets rather firm 

 in texture, 5-9, short-stalked, oblong-lance- 

 olate, serrate or serrulate with incurved 

 teeth, 2'-4' long, acuminate at the apex, nar- 

 rowed or obtuse at the base; cymes decom- 

 pound, convex, 8' broad or less, long-stalked, 

 mostly broader than high; flowers very 

 numerous, white, about 2" broad; pedicels 

 very slender, 2"-3" long; fruit described as 

 black. \^S. nigra of Reade, Jones and Le- 

 froy.] 



Waste grounds, occasionally escaped from 

 cultivation. Commonly planted for ornament. 

 Introduced. Flowers in summer and autumn. 

 TTne flowers mostly fall away without setting 

 fruit in Bermuda. 



