1028 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III. 



pec. Char., $c. 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., iii. p. 437.) A low / 



tree, in a wild state, growing from 20ft. to 30 ft. 

 high, and flowering in June. A native of Europe, 

 and part of Asia, in hedges, coppices, and woods; 

 and plentiful in Britain, in like situations, but probably not truly indigenous. 

 The varieties are rare, except in gardens. 



Varieties. 

 % S 



S 

 S 



S. 



w. 2 virescens Dec. Prod., iv. p. 322.; S. virescens Desf. Arbr. Fr.\. 

 p. 348. Fruit yellowish green. 



w. 3 leucocdrpa. Fruit white. 



n. 4 taciniata; S. laciniata Mil/. Die/., No. 2.; (Lob. Icon., 2. t. 164. 

 f. 2. ; and our fig. 774.) the Parsley-leaved Elder ; has the leaflets cut 

 into fine segments. 



n. 5 rotund if blia. Leaves trifoliolate. Leaflets petiolate, roundish, 

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



S. n. 6 monstrbsa, S. monstrosa //or/., has the branches striped. Flowers 

 of from 5 15 parts ; and with from 5 15 stamens. Stigmas 5 12. 

 Berries irregular. 

 *t S. n. 7 f bliis argenteis (fig. 775.) has the leaves variegated with white, 



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

 If S. n. 8 fbMs luteis, has the leaves slightly variegated with yellow. 

 Detcription, Geography, %c. The common elder forms a small tree, re- 

 markable for its vigorous growth when young, and its stationary character 

 after it has attained 20 or 30 years' growth, and as many feet high. Its ample 

 cymes of cream-coloured flowers make a fine show in June, and its purplish 

 black berries in September. It is observed by Sir J. E. Smith, that " our 

 uncertain summer is established by the time the elder is in full flower; and 

 entirely gone when its berries are ripe." It is a native of Europe, the north 

 of Africa, and the colder parts of Asia, but not of America ; and it is chiefly 

 near human habitations. Dr. Walker, in 1780, thinks it is not indigenous in 

 Scotland, and even that it had not been long introduced there ; because he 

 knew no instances of very old trees. It is common in all parts of Eng- 

 land, in the neighbourhood of houses and gardens ; and also in the woods 

 of the temperate and southern parts of Russia. It is frequent in Greece, 



