72 FAMILIAR TREES 



there are three main branches. The five stamens in 

 each little flower have purple anthers and crumpled 

 filaments; and in autumn the clustered blossoms give 

 place to numerous small round berries, ripening from 

 red, through a dark shining purple, to an almost pure 

 though lustrous black, and forming an attractive 

 feast for our feathered friends and for the human 

 eye searching into the beauties of the landscape in 

 the fall of the year. Besides the herbaceous stem, the 

 Danewort is further distinguished from its congener, 

 the Elder, by the possession of distinct ovate, leafy, 

 and saw-edged stipules at the base of its leaves. 

 Though the traditions to which the plant owes its 

 more familiar name allege that this Dwarf Elder 

 grows only in spots once watered by the blood of our 

 ancient invaders, the Danes, it will not, as a matter of 

 fact, be found at all unaccommodating in the question 

 of soil. If they will only "give ample room and 

 verge enough," the happy possessors of a shrubbery 

 cannot do better than find a place in it for the 

 Danewort. 



