320 THE ELDER. 



been planted in 1823. Previously to 1810 the Willow 

 did not grow in St. Helena ; but Darwyn states that Weep- 

 ing Willows are now common on the banks of the rivulets, 

 associated with so many other plants of British origin that 

 the imported species have excluded many of the native 

 kinds, and given to the scenery a character decidedly 

 British ; it being only on the highest and steepest ridges 

 that the indigenous flora is now predominant. 



So popular has the Weeping Willow become as an 

 ornamental tree, that it is said to be commoner in almost 

 every country than in its native habitat, the banks of the 

 Euphrates. 



The opinion, that under the Hebrew name for the Willow 

 was included the Oleander, a beautiful flowering shrub 

 that copiously lines the course of the Jordan, however 

 poetical it may be, appears to be based on conjecture alone, 

 and must therefore be received with caution. 



THE ELDER. 



SAMBUCUS NIGRA. 



Natural Order CAPRIFOLIACEJE. 



Class PENTANDEIA. Order TRIGY N IA. 



THIS tree, which possesses neither picturesque beauty 

 nor fragrance, comes to us recommended by ancient authors 

 for its numerous medicinal properties. Pliny furnishes us 

 with a long list of the virtues supposed to reside in the 

 various parts of the Elder, and our own historian of trees, 

 Evelyn, is no less eloquent in its praises: "If," he says, 

 " the medicinal properties of the leaves, bark, berries, &c., 

 were thoroughly known, I cannot tell what our country- 

 men could ail, for which they might not find a remedy 

 from every hedge, either for sickness or wound. The inner 

 bark of Elder applied to any burning takes out the fire 

 immediately ; that, or, in season, the buds boiled in water- 



