302 CAPRIFOLIACEiE. Triosteum. 



dark purple. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 176 ; Pursh, fl. \.p. 162 ; Bart. veg. mat. med. t. 4 ; Bigel. 

 med. bot. 1. p. 90. t. 9, and fl. Bost. p. 89 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 269 ; Torr. fl.l.p. 247 ; Sweet, 

 Brit. fl. gard. (ser. 2 ) ^ 45 ; Beck, hot. p. 157 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 159 ; Torr. 6f Gr. 

 fl. N. Am. 2. p. 12. T. majus, Michx. fl. 1. p. 107. Triosteospermum, Dill. hort. Elth. 

 t. 293. /. 378. 



Root thick and fleshy, divided into several horizontal portions. Stem 2-4 feet high, thick, 

 fistulous, simple. Leaves 4-8 inches long and 2-4 wide, sometimes sinuate on the margin, 

 the long contracted base being often so narrow as to resemble a winged petiole. Flowers 

 sessile, clustered in the axils of the middle leaves. Bracts linear. Corolla about three-fourths 

 of an inch long, a little curved, of a dull purplish color, about the length of the calyx-segments, 

 viscidly pubescent. Filaments bearded : anthers oblong. Style nearly as long as the corolla : 

 stigma thickened, obscurely 3 - 5-lobed. Fruit half an inch long, pubescent, orange-colored. 

 Nucules usually 3 ; the back strongly 3-ribbed. 



Shady rocky places ; rather common. Fl. May - July. Fr. September. The root is 

 cathartic, emetic and diuretic. It has long been a popular medicine. In some places the 

 plant is called Wild Coffee. See Wood ^ Backers U. S. Dispens. p. 673. 



Tribe II. SAMBVCEjE. Kunth. 



Corolla regular, rotate, or rarely somewhat tubular. Stigmas 3-5, nearly sessile. Endo- 

 carp of the fruit crustaceous or coriaceous. Testa of the seed membranaceous ; the raphe 

 occupying the inner side. 



6. SAMBUCUS. Tourn.; Linn.; Endl. gen. ^Ml. ELDER. 



[ From sambuke, the Greek name of a musical instrument, supposed to have been made of the wood of this plant.] 



Limb of the calyx small, 5-cleft. Corolla rotate or urceolate, with 5 obtuse lobes. Stamens 

 5. Fruit baccate, pulpy, roundish : nucules (seeds of most authors) 3 (rarely 5), crusta- 

 ceous, oblong, finely wrinkled, obtusely angled on the back, flattish on the face, each 

 containing a suspended seed. — Shrubby perennial herbs, with a heavy odor. Leaves 

 pinnate or 1 - 2-pinnately divided ; the leaflets or divisions serrate or incised. Cymes 

 compound, thyrsoid or fastigiate. Flowers white or sometimes reddish. 



1. Sambucus ruBENs, Michx. Red-berried Elder. 



Stem shrubby ; leaves pinnately 5 - 7-foliolate ; leaflets ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, the 

 lower surface and the petioles pubescent ; thyrsus ovoid or pyramidal, rather loose. — Michx. 

 fl. I. p. 181 ; Torr. fl. 1. p. 321 ; DC. prodr. 4. p. 323 ; Torr. 4- Gr. fl. N. Am. 2. p. 13. 

 S. pubescens, Pers. syn. I. p. 328 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 204 ; Ell. sk. l.p. 368 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. 

 p. 118. S. racemosa. Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 279. 



var. leucocarpa : berries white. Torr. ^ Gr. I. c. 



