CAPEirOLIACEiB, 269 



North America, extending far iuto the Arctic regions, and ascending to the 

 highest alpine summits. In southern Europe, chiefly confined to moun- 

 tains. Common in Britain. Fl. spring. 



II. ELDER. SAMBUCUS. 



Trees, shrubs, or tall herbs, with opposite pinnate leaves, and large cymes 

 of numerous, rather small, white flowers. Calyx with a border of 5 small 

 teeth. CoroUa with a very short tube, and 5 spreading divisions, so as to 

 appear rotate. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the coroUa. Stigma 

 sessile, 3- to 5-lobed. Fruit a berry, or, strictly speaking, a berry-like drupe, 

 with 3, rarely 4, seed-hke stones, each containing a single seed. 



The genus consists of but few species, spread over Europe, temperate 

 Asia, and North America, and is the only one in the family with pinnate 

 leaves. 



Tree. Segments of the leaves ovate, without stipvdar lobes 1. Common JS. 



Herb. Segments lanceolate, the lowest short, broad, and close to the 



stem, representing stipules 2. Dwarf JS. 



The red-berried E. (S. racemosus), common in our shrubberies, is a native 

 of the mountains of continental Em'ope. 



1. Common Elder. Sambucus ni^a, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 476.) 



A small tree, or shrub, with the stem and branches full of pith. Leaf- 

 segments 5 to 7, ovate, pointed, 2 to 3 inches long, regularly and sharply 

 toothed, and nearly glabrous. Cymes 5 or 6 inches broad, several times 

 branched, the first time into 4 or 5, but the branches less numerous at each 

 subsequent division, and always without bracts. Flowers white or cream- 

 coloured. Fruits black. 



In woods, coppices, and waste places, common in central and southern 

 Europe to the Caucasus, and extending itself readily from cultivation 

 further northward. Appears to be tridy indigenous in England and Ire- 

 land, but only introduced into Scotland. FL summer, rather early. A 

 garden variety has deeply and finely-cut segments to the leaves. 



2. Divarf Elder. Sambucus Ebulus, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 475. Banewort.) 



Stock short and perennial, with annual, erect stems, thick and pithy, 

 sUghtly branched, 2 to 3 feet high. Leaf-segments 7 to 11, lanceolate, 2 to 

 4 inches long, with a small one on each side of the leafstalk, on the stem 

 itself, looking like stipules. Cymes less regular, and rather smaller than in 

 the common E., with only 3 primary branches. Flowers sweet-scented, of 

 a pure wliite, or tinted with purple on the outside. Fruits black. 



On roadsides, in rubbishy wastes, and stony places, in central and 

 southern Europe, and west-central Asia, extending northward to southern 

 Sweden. Occurs in several parts of Britain, and may be reaUy indigenous 

 in some of the southern counties of England and Ireland, although it is 

 beheved by many to be even there an introduced plant. Fl. smmner, later 

 than the common H. 



2 A 2 



