Dwarf elder

Sambucus ebulus. Grows to 4 feet in Eurasia and northern Africa also grows in eastern and central U.S. Also known as dwarf elder, Dane s elder. Its black berries are toxic. Good dye source. The root has a history of being used to treat snakebite. 

A Danish legend says that elder sprang from the blood of a slain countryman. Dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus) is said to grow near ancient battlefields where much blood has been shed. The species name ebulus means "to bubble up." The belief was that the blood of soldiers bubbled up from the earth. The plant does turn very red in the fall and, when it dies down, it leaves a red stain upon the ground and then disappears until the next spring. 

If the wine is artificially colored, potash gives the following colored precipitates Dwarf elder, mulberry, or beetroot givo a violet precipitate pokeweed berries, a yellow Indian wood, a violet red pemambuco, a re[Pg.277]

The European cultures used the elder for longtime for magical purposes, to keep the evil spirits away [3]. Romanian tradition consider the elder Sambucus nigra) and the dwarf elder Sambucus ebulus) as a couple (man and wife) with magical power for rain calling ceremonies and evil protection. The collection of their berries were done only after accomplishing a magical ceremony [4]. 

In many cases cultivated soils have compacted areas which can severely impair tree growth. Compaction in soil may be due to factors associated with soil formation or geology, or it may have been caused by mechanical pressure from machinery or by deposits by transport and ground-levelling vehicles. If the soil is compacted it is absolutely essential to loosen the subsoil (e.g. by trenching or deep cultivation) before a new orchard is set up. Dwarfing rootstocks for apples and pears (M9, M27, quince C), elder and small fruit trees are particularly sensitive to soil compaction. 

Two people were waiting for Ralph at the bottom of the airstairs. Landon McCullock, the police commissioner, was a hale seventy-year-old, almost two metres tall, with thick crew-cut ginger hair, dressed in a midnight-blue uniform with several silver stripes on his right arm. Beside him was Diana Tiernan, the police department s technology division chief, a fragile, elderly woman dwarfed by her superior officer, a contrast which tended to emphasise her scholarly appearance. 

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