328 CAPRiFOLiACE^. [Sambucus. 



pale yellow pollen made up of cohering globules ; fertile flowers in solilnry clus- 

 ters of three in ray specimens (Mr. Leighton describes his as in 4-ulustered 

 whorls), on a receptacle similar in form to that on which the staminate flowers 

 are placed, but much enlarged and swollen at the base, the lobes slightly fringed. 

 Calyx a thickened rim nearly covering the germen, and becoming a berry. Co- 

 rolla oi i (sometimes 3) triangular erect petals, broadest at the base. Germen 

 adnate with the calyx; onafe solitary, erect. Style none; stigma square, brown- 

 ish. Berries globular, pellucidly veined, not uulike white currants in size and 

 general appearance, but more opaque, slightly marked with the scar of the four 

 petals and stigma, and filled with a very viscid pulp enveloping a solitary, erect, 

 flattened, green seed. Embryo 1, 2, or 3 in the centre of the green fleshy albu- 

 men, the radical superior. 



Mr. Leighton justly observes that the male plant is of a paler yellower green, 

 with shorter and less rigid branches than the female, whose leaves are usually 

 broader and longer, and the whole plant firmer and more luxuriant. 



Order XXXIX. CAPRIFOLI.\CE^, Juss. 



" Calyx-tube adnate with the ovary, usually bracteated at the 

 base. Corolla regular or irregular ; the segixtents imbricated iit 

 aestivation. Stamens 4 — 5, alternate with the lobes of the corolla. 

 Stigmas 3, nearly sessile or subcapitate at the extremitj^ of a fili- 

 form style. Ovary 3 — 5 celled. Fruit generally a berry 1- or 

 many-celled, 1- or many-seeded, crowned with the persistent lobes 

 of the calyx. Albumen fleshy. — Shrubs or herbs, with opposite 

 leaves ; no stipules." — Br. Fl. 



I. Sambucus, Linn. Elder. 



" Calyx-llmh 5-cleft. Corolla rotate, 5-lobed. Stamens 5. 

 Stigmas 3, sessile. Berry 8- or 4-seeded. (Leaves pinnated)." — 

 £r. Fl. 



A genus of hardy shrubs or small trees, rarely herbaceous plants, closely allied 

 to Viburnum, but with pinnated foliage. The species, which are not numerous, 

 inhabit the colder parts of both hemispheres, and are rather ornamental. 



1. S. 7iigra, L. Common Elder. Arborescent, stipules obso- 

 lete, cymes flat compact with 5 principal branches', leaflets 5 — 7 

 ovate-lanceolate serrate, stipules obsolete. Sm. E. Fl. ii. p. 109. 

 Br. Fl. p. 184. Lind. Syn. p. 132. E. B. vii. t. 476. Loud. 

 Arbor. Brit. Gulmp. unci Hayne, Abbilcl cler Deutsch. Iloltzart 

 i. 44, t. 34. 



/3. Leaflets ternale, orbicular. S. nigra t. rotundifolia, DC, Prod. Purs iv 

 323. 



y. Fruit pale, nearly colourless. 



Very common everywhere in woods, thickets, copses and hedgerows. Fl. 

 June, July. /^r. August— October. Tp . 



p. By the ruadside between Si. Lawrence and Niton, W. Wilson Saunders, Esq. 



y. A single tree in a field-hedge below Mouse-h(de, Newchurch ; noticed there 

 by the occupant of the cottage, named Russell .'.'.' 



A shrub or small tree, seldom rising in the wild state to more than 20 feet, but 

 in cultivation often attaining to nearly twice that height, much and irreo-ularlv 



