Elder
Sambucus nigra
Family · Viburnaceae · Irritating
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The shrub of damp hedges with huge plates of white flowers in May and clusters of black berries in August. Flower and fruit are used; leaves, stems and raw seed are not.
Streams and ditches · Roadsides and waste ground · Oak woods · Town and roadside
Also known aselderberry, black elder
How to tell it
A compound leaf of five to seven toothed leaflets with an unpleasant smell when crushed. A flat, wide inflorescence like a white plate. Young stems are hollow with a soft white pith.
What it is confused with
Dwarf elder
Sambucus ebulus
A confusion that causes vomiting. Dwarf elder is herbaceous, dies back in winter and stays under two metres, with berries facing upwards; elder is woody, has a trunk, and its berries hang down.
What it is for
The flowers make cordial, liqueur and fritters; ripe berries make jam and wine, always cooked. A note that belongs on the sheet: raw berries, leaves and stems contain cyanogenic compounds and cause sickness.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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