37 6 



THE ELDER. 



and sub-divide again into numerous tiny pedicels. On these the 

 florets are supported and grouped together into a loosely formed disk 

 (corymb) some five inches in diameter. The florets 

 have five creamy white lobes, resembling petals, 

 springing from the rim of a short calyx tube and 

 set at right angles to the flower pedicel. These 

 lobes are in the same plane as the stamens which 

 lie between them. The white thread-like filaments 

 of the stamens bear bright yellow anthers, and help 

 to make up the predominating colour of the head 

 of flowers ; the sepals are pale green. Occasionally 

 the florets have four petals, four sepals and four 

 stamens. The flowers are strongly scented. 



o, 



PLAN OF THfc 



THE BERRY . 



The berries are nearly spherical, and about an eighth of an inch 

 in diameter. They gradually change in colour from green to dull 

 red, and then, very rapidly, pass about the middle of September to 

 shining black, by which time the pedicels also have become crimson. 

 The clusters of berries are set at first in the same position as the 

 flower-heads, but, as they ripen, their own weight causes them to 

 droop, and even to bear over the main flower stem with them. 



THE LEAF . 



When the bud expands, the first pair of leaves remain upright, 

 but, as they lengthen, they separate and unfold outwards ; the leaf- 

 stalk also curves until it brings the tip of the terminal leaflet to a 

 level with its own base, or even slightly below it. The second pair 

 of leaves stand upright between the bases of the first pair, but at 



