850 



The Elders 



small fruit is usually bright scarlet but some plants produce yellow and still others 

 brownish colored fruit. 



California Tree Elder. 



2. CALIFORNIA TREE ELDER — Sambncus callicarpa Greene 



This tree, known only from California, where it is quite widely distributed in the 



Coast Mountains, reaches a maximum 

 height of 8 meters, with a trunk diameter 

 of 3 dm. ; it probably extends northward 

 into Oregon, and is often a mere shrub. 

 The Ught brown bark is slightly fis- 

 sured. The young twigs are somewhat 

 hairy, becoming Ught red-brown with 

 age, and filled with a thick white pith. 

 The yoimg leaves are sparsely covered 

 with stiff hairs and provided with small 

 callous-tipped stipules; the 5 to 9 short- 

 stalked leaflets are thin, oval to oblong- 

 obovate, 5 to 10 cm. long, acute or 

 blunt, quite unequally rounded at the 

 base, and closely and deeply toothed; 

 they are dark green on the upper side 

 and lighter green beneath. The white 



flowers are densely crowded in the ovoid cymes. The fruit is bright red, about 



5 mm. in diameter. 



3. MEXICAN ELDER 

 Sambucus mexicana Presl 



This southwestern species, reaching a 

 maximum height of 10 meters, with a trunk 

 diameter of 3 dm., occurs in river valleys and 

 on margins of streams from western Texas 

 westwardly to southern CaUfomia, and south 

 to southern Mexico; it is also called Elder- 

 berry tree. 



The light brown bark is about 6 cm. thick 

 and scaly. The twigs are hght green, more 

 or less hairy, becoming brownish red. The 

 leaves, borne on stout leaf-stalks 2.5 to 3 cm. 

 long, are usually hairy on both sides, especially 

 so beneath, or become nearly smooth when 

 old. The leaflets, usually 5 in number, are thick and firm, ovate to ovate-lanceo- 



FlG. 773. — Mexican Elder. 



