CAFKEFOIiIACEiE. 



199 



GEN US II— S AMBUCUS. Lin n . 



Calyx-limb obsolete or with 5 very minute teeth. Corolla sub- 

 rotate/ with a short urceolate tube and a broad spreading limb 

 with 5 blunt lobes. Stamens 5. Stigmas 3, distinct. Fruit a 

 small juicy drupe containing 3 small 1-seeded stones. 



lives, shrubs, rarely herbs, with opposite pinnate leaves with 

 few pairs of serrated pointed leaflets. Flowers numerous, white 

 or pink, in flat compound corymbose cymes. 



The derivation of the name of this genus of plants is from vci[i€vkj) (samtvAS), which 

 in Latin has been changed to sambucu, a musical instrument, which is believed to have 

 been made of elder-wood. 



SPECIES I.-SAIBUCUS NIGRA. Linn. 

 Plate DCXXXVII. 

 Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XII. Tab. DCCXXX. Fig. 1436. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 137. 



Stem woody. Leaves pinnate, glabrous ; leaflets very shortly 

 stalked, 2, more rarely 3, 4, or more pairs, oval or elliptical or 

 lanceolate, rarely orbicular, generally acuminate, finely and closely 

 serrate, rarely cut, Stipules none, or reduced to strapshaped 

 appendages. Flowers in a sub-umbellate much-branched stalked 

 corymbose cyme. Corolla rotate. Filaments slender. 



Var. a, genuina. 

 Leaflets 5 to 7, oval, elliptical or lanceolate, simply serrate. 



Var. 0, laciniata. 

 Leaflets 5 to 7, lanceolate, cut. 



Var. y, rotundifolia. D. C. 

 Leaflets 3, orbicular, simply serrate. 



In woods, thickets, and hedges. Common, and generally distri- 

 buted, except in the extreme North of Scotland, where, though it 

 occurs, it has probably been planted. Var. I have not seen 

 from any station where it could be considered as truly native ; it 

 occurs in Ayrshire, Leicestershire, and Yorkshire ; var. y, between 

 St, Laurence and Niton, Isle of Wight (Dr. Blomfield) ; but I 

 have seen no specimens. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Tree or Shrub. Summer. 



