Sambucus. CAPRIFOLIACE^. 303 



Stem 2-10-18 feet high, sometimes 3-4 inches in diameter at the base. Leaves very 

 pubescent vfhen young, nearly smooth on the upper surface when old : leaflets commonly 5, 

 each 3-5 inches long, conspicuously acuminate and sharply serrate. Thyrsus about three 

 inches long. Berries the size of a small pea, scarlet or rarely white. 



Rocky banks, and in dry woods. Fl. May. Fr. June. Very near S. racemosa of Europe. 

 The white-berried variety occurs on the Catskill Mountains {Mr. J. Hogg). 



2. Sambucus Canadensis, Linn. Common Elder. 



Stem sufTrutescent ; leaves pinnately 5 - 11-foliolate, often with foliaceous stipelles, some- 

 times imperfectly bipinnate ; leaflets oblong or oval, acute, more or less pubescent underneath ; 

 cymes spreading, 5 - 7-parted. — Linn. sp. 1. p. 269 ; Michx. fl. I. p. 281 ; Pursh, fl. 1. 

 p. 203 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 368 ; Torr. fl.l. p. 321 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 117 ; DC. prodr. 4. 

 p. 322 ; Hook.fl. Bor.-Am. \.p. 279 ; Beck, hot. p. 155 ; Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 205 ; Torr. 

 4- Gr.fl. N. Am. 2. p. 13. 



Stem 6-10 feet high, stout, filled with pith; the branches straight, swelled at the joints. 

 Lower leaves sometimes bipinnate ; upper ones usually with from 5 to 7 leaflets, and often 

 with several large foliaceous stipelles : leaflets with short stalks, nearly smooth above ; when 

 young, velvety-pubescent underneath, but at length smoothish. Cymes 5-8 inches or more 

 in diameter. Flowers of a sickly odor. Teeth of the calyx acute. Corolla white, sometimes 

 6 - 7-lobed. Berries dark purple or nearly black when ripe ; the juice deep crimson. 



Thickets, banks of streams, and along fences ; very common. Fl. June - August. Fr. 

 August - September. This plant, like the S. nigra of Europe, which it greatly resembles, 

 is a popular medicine. The inner bark is used in making an ointment for sores, and is like- 

 wise employed as a purgative. An infusion of the flowers is thought to be a diaphoretic. 

 The berries are aperient and sudorific. See Wood ^ Backers U. S. Dispens. p. 118. 



7. VIBURNUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 3340. guelder rose, 4-c. 



[An ancient Latin name, of uncertain origin.] 



Limb of the calyx 5-toothed. Corolla rotate or somewhat campanulate, 5-lobed. Stamens 5. 

 Ovary 3-celled ; one of the cells containing a single suspended ovule, the others abortive : 

 stigmas 3, sessile. Fruit drupaceous, 1 -celled, 1 -seeded, with a thin pulp; the endocarp 

 (seeds of most authors) crustaceous, mostly compressed. Seed conformed to the cavity of 

 the endocarp ; the testa membranaceous. — Shrubs or small trees, with petiolate, entire or 

 lobed leaves. Flowers white, in terminal cymes, rather showy ; the marginal ones sometimes 

 sterile and very large. , 



