Sa7nbucus.] caprifoliace.e. 829 



branched, the branches terete or somewhat angular, nearly filled with soft, white, 

 elastic pith. Stem 1 or more, erect, when old usually crooked or twisted, covered, 

 as are the larger branches, with a very rough, deeply chapped, brownish or grayish 

 bark, which on the smaller branches is smoother, and beset for the most part wiih 

 warty points. Leaves opposite, imparipinnate, the larger about a span long, their 

 common petioles semiterete, strongly grooved above, roughish with short scat- 

 tered, bristly hairs, somewhat winged and angled, with a close sheathing epider- 

 mis; leaflets mostly 2, sometimes 3 — 7 pairs, with an odd one, of a dull pali-sh, 

 sometimes dark, on very short petiolets, remote, from about 2 — 4 inches in length, 

 ovale or ovato-lanceolate, sometimes roundish ovate or even orbicular, acute, acu- 

 minate or cuspidate, sometimes obtuse, rounded, subcordate or cuneale, equal or 

 oblique and (always i") entire at base, simply, evenly and sharply serrate, the ser- 

 ratures curved forwards ; glabrous or slightly setose-pubescent, the lowermost 

 pair occasionally compound, or furnished with a small supplementary leaflet 

 behind. Stipules obsolete, or in place thereof a pair of small, erect, subulate pro- 

 cesses are sometimes but by no means constantly present, seated at the base of the 

 common petiole and that of the petiolets on their upper sides, like what are 

 observed in Viburnum Opulus. Cymes on long stalks terminating the young 

 gieen and succulent shoots, erect, flat or a little depressed, from 4 or 5 to 6, 8, or 

 10 inches broad, roundish and irregularly lobed in outline, compact or often a lit- 

 tle lax and open, the primary divisions or rays usually 5, diverging, subterete and 

 glabrous, the ultimate divisions flat and spreading, all coloured dark red or pur- 

 ple when in fruit. Flowers very numerous, crowded. Calyx minute, urn-shaped, 

 the limb in 5 (or occasionally 4) unequal, triangular, greenish, spreading seg- 

 ments that are acute, obtuse, rounded or erose. Corolla rotate, 2J or 3 lines in 

 diameter, milk-white with a tinge of green or yellow when newly blown, deeply 

 .5-cleft, the segments ovato-orbicular, entire, more or less convex from the some- 

 times very strong deflexion of their margins, the tube wholly wanting. Stamens 

 about as long as the limb of the corolla, spreading, alternating with the segments ; 

 filaments while ; arefAers straw-yellow, extrorse. Styles 3 sessile greenish glands 

 (stigmas) on the short, white and conical ovary. Berries round, shining, purplish 

 black, staining the fingers of a rose-red, not blue like those of S. Ebulus, nor is 

 the stain nearly so difficult to wash off. Seeds brownish white or bufl'-colour, 

 from about 2 to 3 lines in length, mostly oblong and more or less elliptical or 

 ovate, various in breadth, flattish, slightly pointed at one end, where there is a 

 small chink or cavity containing the hilum, copiously, transversely and undu- 

 lately rugose. 



The var. /3. is a very singular form,* and which, if nut the same, is very similar 

 to a tree I observed, under the name of <S. rotundifolia, in the College Botanic 

 Garden, Dublin, in 1842. Mr. Borrer has it in cultivation, received from Mr. 

 Forster. 



The flowers and leaves of this tree have a scent which is unpleasant to many, 

 and which has much analogy to that of the black currant. It is thought to be 

 narcotic. 



Loudon (Arbor. Brit, article Samhueus) speaks of the Elder as if not really 

 indigenous to Britain, and only found near houses. That it may be so in the 

 more northern parts of the kingdom I do not pretend to dispute, but in the south- 

 ern counties and in this island no shrub can be more common in the most seques- 

 tered woods than the Elder, where it grows as wild and freely as its frequent 

 associates, the Guelder Rose and Wayfaring-tree. 



The common Elder of America {S. canadensis, L.) appears to me to difi"er from 

 the European by no one certain or constant character, though usually recorded as 

 distinct, and considered so still by Dr. Gray, in his recently published ' Flora of 

 the Northern United States.' I "have carefully observed each kind in its native 

 region, and compared numerous specimens of both, and can only come to the 



* [A shrub of Elder, intermediate between this well-marked variety and the 

 common form, is obser\ed by Dr. Bell-Salter within the precincts of Carisbrooke 

 castle, near the steps leading to the keep. — Edrs.} 



