Well followed; Judas was hanged on an Elder.

_Love's Labour's Lost_, act v, sc. 2 (608).

There is, perhaps, no tree round which so much of contradictory
folk-lore has gathered as the Elder tree.[85:1] With many it was simply
"the stinking Elder," of which nothing but evil could be spoken. Biron
(No. 5) only spoke the common mediaeval notion that "Judas was hanged on
an Elder;" and so firm was this belief that Sir John Mandeville was
shown the identical tree at Jerusalem, "and faste by is zit, the Tree of
Eldre that Judas henge himself upon, for despeyr that he hadde, when he
solde and betrayed oure Lord." This was enough to give the tree a bad
fame, which other things helped to confirm--the evil smell of its
leaves, the heavy narcotic smell of its flowers, its hard and heartless
wood,[85:2] and the ugly drooping black fungus that is almost
exclusively found on it (though it occurs also on the Elm), which was
vulgarly called the Ear of Judas (_Hirneola auricula Judae_). This was
the bad character; but, on the other hand, there were many who could
tell of its many virtues, so that in 1644 appeared a book entirely
devoted to its praises. This was "The Anatomie of the Elder, translated
from the Latin of Dr. Martin Blockwich by C. de Iryngio" (_i.e._,
Christ. Irvine), a book that, in its Latin and English form, went
through several editions. And this favourable estimate of the tree is
still very common in several parts of the Continent. In the South of
Germany it is believed to drive away evil spirits, and the name
"'Holderstock' (Elder Stock) is a term of endearment given by a lover to
his beloved, and is connected with Hulda, the old goddess of love, to
whom the Elder tree was considered sacred." In Denmark and Norway it is
held in like esteem, and in the Tyrol an "Elder bush, trained into the
form of a cross, is planted on the new-made grave, and if it blossoms
the soul of the person lying beneath it is happy." And this use of the
Elder for funeral purposes was, perhaps, also an old English custom; for
Spenser, speaking of Death, says--

"The Muses that were wont greene Baies to weare,
Now bringen bittre Eldre braunches seare."

_Shepherd's Calendar--November._

Nor must we pass by the high value that was placed on the wood both by
the Jews and Greeks. It was the wood chiefly used for musical
instruments, so that the name Sambuke was applied