FLORAL EMBLEMS. 337 



ZEALOUSNESS. 



ELDER. Sambucus. 



" There the favourite elder was planted, 

 Whose wide-extending branches, shelter'd 

 The early plants of the rustic garden, 

 Whilst its umbels of faint-smelling flowers 

 Afforded them their only cosmetic, 

 And its purple berries their only wine. 

 Its first young buds form'd their only pickle ; 

 Its pithy stalks their children's only toy." 



This native tree, which forms the dispensary 

 of our peasantry, seems zealous in their ser- 

 vice, for it is so tenacious of life, that it 

 thrives not only in swampy grounds, wet 

 ditches, arid and sterile banks, but it grows 

 also on the ruins of old towers, and is fre- 

 quently seen self-planted on the trunks of de- 

 caying trees. 



