HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY 



Flowers. — April, May. Perfect, small, cream-white, turning 

 brown in drying, borne in pyramidal compound cymes, odor 

 heavy. 



Calyx. — Tube adnate to the ovary ; border narrow, five-cleft ; 

 lobes minute. 



Corolla. — Cream- white, wheel-shaped, spreading five-cleft bor- 

 der, lobes rounded, greatly reflexed. 



Stame?is. — Five, inserted on the corolla and alternate with its 

 lobes, exserted ; filaments slender, white ; anthers pale yellow, 

 two-celled. 



Pistil. — Ovary inferior, three to five-celled ; style short, three- 

 lobed ; one ovule in each cell. 



Fruit. — Berry-like juicy drupe, borne in pyramidal clusters, 

 brilliant scarlet, size of a small pea, crowned with remnants of 

 style and calyx, containing three to five nutlets. Flesh yellow 

 and unpleasant to the taste. June, July. 



The Red-berried Elder belongs to the group of 

 early bloomers. Its flower buds push out from their 

 protecting bracts in company with those of the Shrub 

 Yellow-root, the Forsythia and the Magnolia stellata. 

 The flower cluster, instead of being broad and flat like 

 that of the American Elder, is pyramidal. The tiny 

 flowers so dispose themselves that they seem like little 

 balls with stamens protruding on every side. The 

 fruit is a brilliant scarlet, borne in great clusters, and 

 frequently so abundant as to make the bush one mass 

 of red ; and as this magnificent display comes early — 

 even before the American Elder comes into bloom — it' 

 has an increased value. But under any circumstances, 

 the fruiting bush is extremely ornamental with every 

 branch tipped with a scarlet thyrsus. A white- 

 berried variety has been reported as occurring on the 

 Catskill mountains. 



The bush can be distinguished from Sambucus cana- 



26S 



