ELDER 69 



ELDER FLOWERS 



(Flores Sambuci) 



Source, &C. The common elder, Sambucus nigra, Linne (N.O. 

 Caprifoliacece) , is indigenous and common in England, and is distri- 

 buted throughout the whole of central and southern Europe. It 

 flowers in the early summer, producing large polychasial cymes, 

 about 15 cm. in diameter, of small white flowers. The entire in- 

 florescences are collected and allowed to remain in heaps for a few hours, 

 during which they become slightly heated and the flowers drop off 

 from the stalks. The latter are removed by sifting, and the flowers 

 are either dried or preserved by mixing them with common salt. 

 By this ' pickling ' the rather disagreeable odour of the fresh flowers 

 is gradually changed to a pleasant fragrance. Either fresh or 

 pickled flowers may be used for the preparation of elder-flower water, 

 but that made from the fresh flowers has a distinct and unpleasant 

 odour, which it is said to lose when redistilled after having been kept 

 for some weeks. The fresh flowers, infused in melted lard, yield 

 elder-flower ointment. 



Description. The flower consists of a three-celled, three-seeded, 

 inferior ovary, five small green calyx-teeth, a white, rotate, mono- 

 petalous corolla with five ovate or rounded lobes and a very short 

 tube in which five stamens with short filaments and yellow anthers 

 are inserted. The dried flowers, which are so shrivelled that their 

 details are quite obscured, have a dingy brownish yellow colour and 

 faint odour. 



The student should examine the drug by boiling a little for a few 

 moments in water and pouring on a plate to cool ; in addition to 

 the flowers, numerous portions of the stalks (pedicels), as well as 

 occasional buds and immature fruits, may be readily seen under a lens. 



He should observe 



(a) The five-lobed monopetalous corolla, 

 (6) The yellow anthers of the stamens. 



Constituents. Elder flowers contain about 0-32 per cent, of volatile 

 oil, possessing the odour of the flowers in a high degree. It is obtained 

 by distilling the fresh flowers with water, saturating the distillate 

 with salt and shaking it with ether. On evaporating the ethereal 

 solution the oil is obtained as a yellowish buttery mass. 



Substitutes, &C. The flowers of various small composite plants 

 (e.g. Achillea Millefolium, Linne) are said to have been used for 

 adulterating elder flowers. The latter can be easily distinguished 

 by the characters detailed above. 



The flowers of the dwarf elder (Sambucus Ebulus, Linne), which, 



