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BULLETIN 26, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Collection, uses, and prices. — The flowers and fruits are used in medicine, the 

 flowers having been official in the United States Pharmacopoeia for 1890. The 

 flowers should be collected when fully opened and then quickly dried. They 

 should have a nice yellowish color when dry, not a brownish or black appearance. 

 The odor is not very strong in the dried flowers and the taste is mucilaginous 

 and somewhat bitter. Elder flowers are used as a household remedy for their 

 diuretic and diaphoretic properties and for poultices and ointments in the treat- 

 ment of rheumatism, sores, burns, etc. The berries are occasionally used for 

 their cooling, aperient, and diuretic properties. The inner bark is likewise 

 sometimes employed in medicine. 



Elder flowers at present bring about IS to 20 cents a pound. 



ADDITIONAL COPIES o f this publication 

 -ii may be procured from the Superintend- 

 ent of Documents, Government Printing 

 Office, Washington , D. C. , at 5 cents per copy 



WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PIUNTINC, OFFICE '. 1913. 



