shrub
American elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
CautionEdible cookedcommon
Flat white flower plates, then purple berry clusters. Cook the fruit; raw berries upset stomachs.
A suckering shrub with opposite, pinnate leaves and pithy stems. Flowers are fragrant cream umbels. Fruit hangs in purple-black plates.
- Habitat
- Ditch lines, wet fence corners, pond edges.
- Season
- Flowers June; fruit August.
- Size
- 6–12 ft
- Field marks
- Pithy stems; flat flower plates; purple clusters
Use
Cooked jelly, syrup, wine. Flowers for fritters. Stems and roots are not food.