The Viburnums and the Elders 



Stout branches, like V.rujidulum. It is found from Connecticut 

 to Georgia, and west to Michigan, Kansas, and Texas. In 

 European parks and gardens and in those of our Eastern States 

 this little "stag bush" is often cultivated for its handsome flowers 

 and foliage and its persistent fruit. 



2. Genus SAMBUCUS, Linn. 



Quick-growing, stout-branched trees and shrubs, with pithy 

 branchlets and ill-smelling sap. Wood dense, light brown, soft. 

 Leaves pinnate, of 5 leaflets, opposite, deciduous. Flowers small, 

 perfect, white, in broad compound cymes. Fruits small, blue or 

 black, juicy, berry-like, each with 3 to 5 nutlets. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Leaves and young shoots pubescent; fruit destitute of 

 bloom. {S. Mexicana) Mexican elder 



A A. Leaves and young shoots smooth; fruit covered with a 

 pale bloom. (5. glauca) pale elder 



Our two arborescent species of the genus Sambucus are 

 found west of the Mississippi, but the family traits are familiar 

 to Eastern people through their acquaintance with the two 

 shrubby species, the red-berried and the black-berried elders. 



There are twenty species, all told, in the genus. The golden 

 elder is a yellow-leaved form of the European species, Sambucus 

 nigra, Linn. Two other species have produced golden varieties. 

 These are altogether too much planted, and the handsome shrubby 

 native species, above mentioned, have not been fully appreciated. 



The fruit of the common elder is used in making elderberry 

 wine, and elderberry pie is a staple viand in many country districts 

 in the season of the ripening fruit. In fact, the idea of the im- 

 provement of this species as a small fruit has taken hold upon 

 some plant breeders. The Brainerd elderberry with fruit as big 

 as cherries was introduced into the trade in 1890. 



Elder shoots are used in toy making and for "spiles" to 

 draw sap from maple trees. The name of the genus is from the 

 Greek, Samhuke, a musical wind instrument made of the hollow 

 stems of the elder. 



The Mexican Elder {S. Mexicana, DC.) grows to 30 feet 



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