The small 5-parted flower has 5 stamens and 1 pistil, and a minute calyx; it is cream-white, and grows in wide, spreading, flat-topped clusters, on the ends of the branches.
The round, reddish-black berries ripen in August and September; they were used by our foremothers to make a spicy wine. In the wild hedgerow the big creamy clusters are most effective, but when picked the little flower-wheels soon scatter.
ELDER-FLOWER: Sambucus Canadensis.
| Snowberry. | Symphoricarpos racemosus. |
Found in blossom from June to September.
A shrub about 3 or 4 feet high, with a woody, branching stem, covered with a smooth bark; that of the old growth gray-brown in color, of the new growth, golden-brown.
The broadly oval leaf has an entire, somewhat wavy, margin, a smooth surface, and dry texture. It is in color a dark grayish-green, lighter beneath. The leaves grow in pairs, on short stems.
The small bell-shaped flower is 5-tipped, and filled within with white woolly hairs; it is rose-colored, running into white. The corolla sits on top of the little, round, green calyx, which develops into a large, juicy, waxen white berry. The flowers and berries grow in a close terminal spike, gradually weighed down by the enlarging berries.
Both berries and blossoms occur on the same spike. The Snowberry was largely cultivated by our foremothers in their house yards, and is still common about old houses.