514 



AUBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



Engravings. N. Du Ham.,!, t. 5S. ; Eng. Bot., 

 1st edit,, vol. vi. ; and our^g^s. 930. and 931. 



t. 476. ; the plate of this species in Arb. Brit, 



Spec. Char., Sfc. Arboreous. Leaves pinnate. 

 Leaflets usually 5, smooth, deep green, ovate or 

 oblong-oval, acuminated ; the lower leaves some- 

 times trifoliolate. Cymes with 5 main branches. 

 Branches, after a year's growth, clothed with 

 smooth grey bark, and filled with a light spongy 

 pith. Flowers cream-coloured, with a sweet but 

 faint smell. Berries globular, purplish black. 

 Stalks reddish. {Don's Mill.) A low tree. Eu- 

 rope, and part of Asia, in hedges, coppices, and 

 woods; and plentiful in Britain, in like situations. 

 Height 20 ft. to 30 ft. Flowers cream-coloured ; 

 June. Berries purplish black ; ripe in Septem- 

 ber. Decaying leaves yellowish green. Naked young wood whitish green. 



931. S. nigra. 



Varieties. 



i S. n. 2 virescens Dec. Prod. iv. p. 322. ; S. virescens Desf. Arhr. Fr. i. 

 p. 3+8. Fruit yellowish green. 



t S. 11. 3 leucocdrpa. Fruit white. 



i S. n. 4 lacinidta ; S. laciniata Mill. Diet. No. 2. (Lob. Icon., 2. t. 164. 



f. 2. ; and our jig. 

 932) ; the Parsley- 

 leaved Elder; has the 

 leaflets cut into fine 

 segments. The hand- 

 somest of all the va- 

 rieties. 



952. S. n. laciiiiita. 933. S. n. foliis argteteis. ( 



/ I 



t S. n. 5 rotrindifolia. Leaves trifoliolate. Leaflets petiolate, roundish, | 

 serrated. Corymbs few-flowered. Cultivated in the Chelsea Garden, j 



t S. n. 6 monstrosn, S. monstrosa Hort,, has the branches striped. ' 

 Flowers of from 5 15 parts; and with from 5 15 stamens. Stig- 

 mas 5 12. Berries irregular. 



S S. n. 7 fd/iis argenfeis {Jig. 933.) has the leaves variegated with white, 

 and forms a striking and lively-looking plant in a shrubbery. 



*? S. V. 8 foliis lideis has the leaves slightly variegated with yellow. 



The elder is cultivated in some parts of Kent for its fruit, which is much 

 in demand for making elder wine. The flowers and bark are much used by 

 herbalists ; and the wood of old trunks, being very hard, is used as a substi-, 

 tute for that of box and dogwood. The young shoots, having large pith, arei 

 made into pop-guns, and the pith is used by electricians in various experiments, j 

 The plant, both in Britain and on the Continent, is sometimes used for forniingj 

 hedges, and also as a nurse plant for plantations exposed to the sea breeze. I 

 In the latter capacity, it has the great advantage of growing rapidlv the fiisti 

 five or six years, and afterwards of being easily choked by the trees it has; 

 nursed up. The elder will not thrive except in a good soil, kept soinevvhatj 

 moist ; and it will not flower and fruit abundantly, unless the situation bel 



