A group of about 26 related plants in
moschatel family Adoxaceae,
including species
◼︎ American black elderberry / 🇨🇦 Canadian elderberry / common elderberry Sambucus canadensis
and
◼︎ red elderberry Sambucus racemosa.
Please let us know which other species you would like to see here, using the
button at the bottom of this page.
Different species are native 🌐︎ worldwide, in temperate and subtropical areas of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48)
(color key).
Despite its common name, botanically, its fruit is not a berry,
but a
"drupe".
Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
Most elderberry species produce edible 🍇︎ berries and juice (cooked, pulp and skin, no seeds nor stems). 😋︎ Yummy, even (this author recalls having eaten elderberry jam and wine — I did not then know to ask about which species).
But uncooked berries, and other plant parts (e.g., seeds, stems, and particularly roots and tender leaves), are ☠︎ toxic.
Make sure you learn the details!
🐝︎ Pollinators such as solitary cavity-nesting bees often make nests in this plant's old ⊚ pithy
stems.