Elder
Sambucus nigra
Family · Adoxaceae · 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.
Open sheet →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.