KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ELDER 



227 



Fig. 370. — European Red-berried Elder. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OF ELDER 



* Color of fruit black or nearly so. (A.) 



A. Height 6-12 feet; stems with large very white pith filling over 

 half the diameter ; leaves with 5-11 usually smooth notched 

 blades ; flowers fragrant in broad clusters, June, July; fruit ripe 

 Aug., Sept. Common American Elder (368) — Sambucus 

 canadensis. 



A. Height 12-25 feet ; with rough bark, less abundant pith and 

 earlier bloom, May. European Black Elder (369) — Sam- 

 bucus nigra. 



A. Height 6-18 feet ; with the fruit strongly whitened with bloom 

 and not polished as in the above species. Pacific coast species. 

 Californian Elder — Sambucus glauca. 



* Color of fruit red (rarely white). (B.) 



B. Height 5-7 feet ; flowers in elongated clusters, April and May, 

 and berries ripe in June ; twigs round ; pith brown. Red-berried 

 Elder — Sambucus pubens. 



B. Similar to the last but somewhat tallerand with the twigs often 

 4-angled and the leaf-stalk smoother. European Red-berried 

 Elder (370) — Sambucus racemdsa. 



The black- berried Elders have many cultivated varieties of great beauty 

 and among them are the cut-leaved forms, lacinikta (371); the golden- 

 leaved— aiirea (372), and the variegated- leaved, varieg^ta, under both 



