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Elderberry
Sambucus pubens

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Elderberry with fruitElderberry flowers

Yes, it's an Elderberry. This species grows only in high deciduous forests where the soil is rich and fairly moist. It has red berries, unlike the familiar purple berries of its far more common sister, Sambucus canadensis. Elderberry is a large many-stemmed shrub, in the same family as the viburnums. The leaves are 6-10" long, growing opposite from the main stem, and are compounded into smaller leaflets plus one terminal leaflet at the end. The leaflets are finely toothed. The flowers are very small, each one being about 1/4" across, but they grow in large, conical clusters - the clusters can be 6-8" long, 4-6" wide, but are usually smaller than that.The flowers are a creamy white, often some are tinged with pink. They bloom in mid spring, usually May. The berries appear in mid to late summer.

Most of us have heard of, if not actually had, elderberry wine. The ripe berries have long been used to make wine, jams and pies. The flowers are sometimes added to pancake or fritter batter. Leaves and inner bark were dried and used in teas, primarily as an emetic or treatment for a cold. Beware, however - ALL parts of the Elderberry contain cyanide compounds. Never use any part of an Elderberry unless cooked and only if you know what you're doing. Better yet, leave the berries for the many wild birds in our habitat that depend on them to prepare for winter.

 

A note on the nomenclature (naming conventions) on this site: Scientific names and classifications are constantly being argued and changed, and it drives me nuts. Although I use many different sources for knowledge, for naming consistency  I  use the  "Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas" by Radford, Ahles and Bell, 1968 edition. This book is a well-established authority for the plants of our region and I've been using it for years. If for some reason I must use a different source for a particular plant, I will make note of it within the descriptive text. Don't like it? Tough!
 
fdudley@weaversites.com

Fiona Dudley
Weaversites
986 Reems Creek Road
Weaverville NC 28787

828-231-1501


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