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ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder;...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 166 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)  , the popular designation of the See also:deciduous shrubs and trees constituting the genus Sambuczis of the natural See also:order See also:Caprifoliaceae . The See also:Common See also:Elder, . S. See also:nigra, the bourtree of See also:Scotland, is found in See also:Europe, the See also:north of See also:Africa, Western See also:Asia, the See also:Caucasus, and See also:Southern See also:Siberia; in sheltered spots it attains a height of over 20 ft . The bark is smooth; the shoots are stout and angular, and the leaves glabrous, pinnate, with See also:oval or elliptical leaflets . The See also:flowers, which See also:form dense See also:flat-topped clusters (corymbose cymes), with five See also:main branches, have a cream-coloured, gamopetalous, five-lobed corolla, five stamens, and three sessile stigmas; the berries are purplish-See also:black, globular and three- or four-seeded, and ripen about See also:September . The elder thrives best in moist, well-drained situations, but can be grown in a See also:great diversity of soils . It grows readily from See also:young shoots, which after a See also:year are See also:fit for transplantation . It is found useful for making See also:screen-fences in See also:bleak, exposed situations, and also as a shelter for other shrubs in the outskirts of plantations . By clipping two or three times a year, it may be made See also:close and compact in growth . The young trees furnish a brittle See also:wood, containing much See also:pith; the wood of old trees is See also:white, hard and close-grained, polishes well, and is employed for shoemakers' pegs, combs, skewers, mathematical See also:instruments and turned articles . Young elder twigs deprived of pith have from very See also:early times been in See also:request for making whistles, popguns and other toys . The elder was known to the ancients for its medicinal properties, and in See also:England the inner bark was formerly administered as a cathartic .

The flowers (sambuci ftores) contain a volatile oil, and serve for the See also:

distillation of elder-See also:flower See also:water (aqua sambuci), used in See also:confectionery, perfumes and lotions . The leaves of the elder are employed to impart a See also:green See also:colour to See also:fat and oil (unguentum sambuci foliorum and oleum viride), and the berries for making See also:wine, a common adulterant of See also:port . The leaves and bark emit a sickly odour, believed to be repugnant to See also:insects . See also:Christopher Gullet (Phil . Trans., 1772, lxii. p . 348) recommends that cabbages, turnips, See also:wheat and See also:fruit trees, to preserve them from caterpillars, flies and blight, should be whipped with twigs of young elder . According to See also:German See also:folklore, the See also:hat must be doffed in the presence of the elder-See also:tree; and in certain of the See also:English midland counties a belief was once prevalent that the See also:cross of See also:Christ was made from its wood, which should therefore never be used as See also:fuel, or treated with disrespect (see Quart . Rev. cxiv . 233) . It was, however, a common See also:medieval tradition, alluded to by See also:Ben See also:Jonson, See also:Shakespeare and other writers, that the elder was the tree on which Judas hanged himself; and on this See also:account, probably, to be crowned with elder was in olden times accounted a disgrace . In Cymbeline (See also:act iv. s . 2) " the stinking elder " is mentioned as a See also:symbol of grief .

In See also:

Denmark the tree is supposed by the superstitious to be under the See also:protection of the " Elder-See also:mother ": its flowers may not be gathered without her leave; its wood must not be employed for any See also:household See also:furniture; and a See also:child sleeping in an elder-wood See also:cradle would certainly be strangled by the Elder-mother . Several varieties are known in cultivation: aurea, See also:golden elder, has golden-yellow leaves; laciniata, See also:parsley-leaved elder, has the leaflets cut into See also:fine segments; rotundifolia has rounded leaflets; forms also occur with variegated white and yellow leaves, and virescens is a variety having white bark and green-coloured berries . The See also:scarlet-berried elder, S. racemosa, is the handsomest See also:species of the genus . It is a native of various parts of Europe, growing in See also:Britain to a height of over 15 ft., but often producing no fruit . The See also:dwarf elder or Danewort (supposed to have been introduced into Britain by the Danes), S . Ebulus, a common See also:European species, reaches a height of about 6 ft . Its cyme is hairy, has three See also:principal branches, and is smaller than that of S. nigra; theflowers are white tipped with See also:pink . All parts of the plant are cathartic and emetic .

End of Article: ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)
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