1032

elements of mateiiia medica.

her-

ui-

_ >»i ejuhja»

lotipf; embryo straight, in fleshy albumen ; radicle next the kiltim.—baceous plants, with opposite leaves, destitute of stipules. Flowers usua jbose, and often sweet-scented (Lindley).

Properties.—N ot uniform.

Sambu'cus nigra, Linn. L. E. D.— Common Elder.

Hex. Syst. Pentandria, Trigynia.

(Flores, L. —Flowers, E, —Flores, Baccre. Cortex interior, !>•)

History. —Hippocrates employed the elder (dxrtj) in medicine.^^Botany. Gen. Char .— Limb of the calyx small, five-cleft-rotate, pitcher-shaped, five-cleft; its lobes obtuse. Stamens fi'’ e - .]„y,none. Stigmas three, sessile. Berry roundish, scarcely crowned,one-celled (Gasrtn.), three- to five-seeded ; funiculi bearing n ieseeds in the axis of the fruit (D. C.) . ,^ e ct,

Sr. Char. — Stem shrubby, somewhat arboreous. Leaves ,^Q.)

smooth ; segments ovate-lanceolate, serrate. Corymbs ft ve *P artlte iLfi, of

Stem much and irregularly (though always oppositely) brauo ^

quick growth; branches (after a year’s growth) clothed with sl,l0 ° , llg ,i-

bark, and filled with a light spongy pith. Leaflets deep green, smoo ^ ltS

ally two pair, with an odd one. Cymes [corymbs] large, smooth, of 1111111 . lB e

cream-coloured flowers, with a sweet but faint smell; some in eac l .^y

sessile. Berries globular, purplish-black ; their stalks reddish (»

Hab. —Indigenous: in hedges, coppices, and woods, common. j g

Description. —The liber or inner bark ( cortex interior saw-A''-"" ~ 1

taste

_v.up>iJices, anti woods, common-

_«...—-The liber or inner bark (cortex interior saw

collected from the branches: its colour is greenish-white; ft®,sweetish astringent; its odour feeble. Its infusion is rendered sbgreen by the sesquichloride of iron. Elder flowers (flores safflOV i ^white when fresh, but by drying become yellow, and retain an ag j eodour. Elder berries (baccee sambuci ) yield, by expression, a rjuice, called elder rob. ^-k-

Composition. —I am unacquainted with any analysis of eld ^g),The flowers were analyzed by Eliason (Gmelin, Handb. d. Chem-U- Jj faC .who obtained from them volatile oil, acrid resin, tannin, oxidised,tive, nitrogenous extractive, gum, woody fibre, glutinous matter , a ^flcrmalates of potash and lime, mineral salts, and a trace of sulphur- - n gjuice contains malic acid, a little citric acid, sugar, pectin, and eomatter, which is reddened by acids, and made green by alkalies-Physiological Effects. — The flowers, owing to their volatile 0mildly stimulant, and, perhaps, sudorific. The berries are cooling, a P fle yc-and diuretic. The inner bark (liber) is hydragogue, cathartic, and el . g>The leaves, probably, possess similar, though less energetic, P r0 P e ^: 0 ji ofUses. —The flowers are seldom employed, except in the prepaidelder-flower water and elder ointment. The use of the berriesalmost solely confined to the manufacture of elder wine. The tnspu> ^juice of the berries is. t™™.-— —

The

It may ’ '

_ j —.....on uj me manufacture of elder wine. Th

juice of the berries is, however, an officinal preparation. J '“~ a ybebark has been used as a hydragogue cathartic in dropsy. Id 111 togiven in decoction (prepared by boiling 3j. of the bark in Oij- of ) va

Oj.), in doses of fitiv. Smaller doses have been used as an aperieresolvent in various chronic disorders. _ _ g py

1. Oleum Sambuci, L. (Directed to be obtained from the fl 0 "® vt , r ssubmitting them to distillation with water).—By distillation the jjtyield a small quantity of a butyraceous, odoriferous oil, but tota j ^for any useful purpose. Its introduction into the Pharmacopce ia