268 CAPRIFOLIACEAE, Vo. III. 
Shrubs or vines. 
Fruit a few-seeded berry. 
Corolla short, campanulate, regular, or nearly so. 5. Symphoricarpos. 
Corolla more or less irregular, tubular or campanulate. 6. Lonicera. 
Fruit a 2-celled capsule; corolla funnelform. 7. Diervilla, 
1. SAMBUCUS [Tourn.] L. Sp. Pl. 269. 1753. 
Shrubs or trees (or some exotic species perennial herbs), with opposite pinnate leaves, 
serrate or laciniate leaflets, and small white or pinkish flowers in compound depressed or 
thyrsoid cymes. Calyx-tube ovoid or turbinate, 3-5-toothed or 3-5-lobed. Corolla rotate or 
slightly campanulate, regular, 3-5-lobed. Stamens 5, inserted at the base of the corolla; 
filaments slender; anthers oblong. Ovary 3-5-celled; style short, 3-parted; ovules 1 in each 
cavity, pendulous. Drupe berry-like, containing 3-5, I-seeded nutlets. Endosperm fleshy; 
embryo nearly as long as the seed. [Latin name of the elder.] 
About 25 species, of wide geographic distribution. In addition to the following, about 10 others 
occur in western North America. Type species: Sambucus nigra L. 
Cyme convex; fruit purplish black. 1. S. canadensis, 
Cyme thyrsoid-paniculate, longer than broad; fruit red. ; 2. S. racemosa, 
1. Sambucus canadénsis L. Amer- 
ican Elder. Sweet or Common - 
Elder. Fig. 3955. 
Sambucus canadensis L. Sp. Pl. 269. 1753. 
A shrub, 4°-10° high, glabrous or very 
nearly so, the stems but little woody, the 
younger ones with large white pith. Leaflets 
5-I1, usually 7, ovate or oval, acuminate or 
acute at the apex, short-stalked, glabrous 
above, sometimes pubescent beneath, 2’-5’ 
long, sharply serrate, sometimes stipellate; 
cymes convex, broader than high; flowers . 
white, about 14” broad; drupe deep purple 
or black, nearly 3” in diameter; nutlets 
roughened. 
In moist soil, Nova Scotia to Florida, west 
.to Manitoba, Kansas and Texas. Also in the 
West Indies. Ascends to 4000 ft. in North 
Carolina, Called also elder-blow, elder-berry. 
The flowers and fruit have strong medicinal 
properties. Leaves heavy-scented when crushed, 
aes of young shoots often stipulate. June— 
uly. 
S. racemosa L, Sp. Pl. 270. 1753. 
S. pubens Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 181. 1803. 
A shrub, 2°-12° high, the twigs and leaves 
commonly pubescent; stems woody, the 
younger with reddish-brown pith. Leaflets 
5-7, ovate-lanceolate or oval, acuminate at 
the apex, often narrowed and usually in- 
equilateral at the base, 2’-5’ long, not stipel- 
late, sharply serrate; cymes thyrsoid, longer 
than broad; flowers whitish, turning brown 
in drying; drupe scarlet or red, 2’-3” in 
diameter ; nutlets very minutely roughened. 
In rocky places, Newfoundland to Alaska, 
British Columbia, Georgia, Michigan, Colo- 
rado and California. Fruit rarely white. April- 
May. Called also mountain elder. Poison- 
elder (Me.). Boor- or bore-tree. Boutry. 
Ascends to 5000 ft. in Virginia. Sambucus 
pibens dissécta Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 
304. 1894, is a race with leaflets laciniate. 
Lake Superior and Pennsylvania. 
Sambucus laciniata Mill., a cut-leaved race 
of the related European S. nigra L., has been 
found at Cape May, N. J., perhaps escaped 
from cultivation. 
