THE ELDEE. 



Samiu'cvs ni'gra L. 



Suggesting mucli traditionary lore and several ques- 

 tions of" interest to the philosophical botanist, the 

 Elder (Sambucus nigra) and its allies merit atten- 

 tion, even if they cannot lay claim to great beauty. 



The Elder itself is a tree of such mingled good and 

 evil report, that its commonness in the neighbourhood 

 of farms and cottages is probably an example of the 

 victory of utilitarianism over superstition. According 

 to mediEcval notions, as Shakespeare tells us in Love's 

 Labour's Lost, " Judas was hang'd on an Elder." Sir 

 John Maundeville, a traveller but slightly more vera- 

 cious than Baron Munchausen, was shown at Jerusalem 

 the identical tree, and the repulsive black fungus, the 

 Judas'-ear {Hirne'ola auric' ula-Ju' doe), may still be 

 ibund growing on the stem of this ill-omened species. 

 True, this fungus also occurs on the Elm, and there is 

 a very different tree known as Judas-tree, from a rival 

 tradition, viz. a blood-red flowered leguminous plant, 

 Cer'cis Siliquas'trum ; but one legend is as likely 

 to be true as the other, and Gercis was not a native 

 of Britain — nor the Elder either, for that matter, of 

 Syria. To confirm its evil reputation, it has been 

 pointed out that the wood of the Elder, though hard, 

 is heartless, that its flowers have that narcotic perfume 

 that is suggestive of death, and that its foliage has so 

 strong, and, to many, so unpleasant an odour, that in 



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