The bourtree has a long history in European and American lore ; its knockout and usefulness make it sought - after by both landscaper and natural - food lover . Several species of elderberry grow throughout the United States , but they share enough similarities for even a novitiate gardener to be able to identify them well . They also have marked differences between species . Those difference are as important as the law of similarity , since some species of elderberry are toxic .
Types and Locations
Most see the elderberry , or Sambucus genus , a member of meeting house family . More than 20 varieties of elderberry subsist throughout the world , but there are three primary coinage most gardeners can identify in North America . The American elderberry ( Sambucus canadensis ) farm throughout much of the eastern United States and Canada , while the blue bourtree ( S. cerulean ) covers the western third of the continent . The red elderberry ( S. racemosa ) exists throughout most of the United States and Canada .
Size
The Sambucus nigra is consider a large shrub or small tree . Depending on coinage and environment , it grow from 3 to 20 invertebrate foot grandiloquent . Most species grow up to 12 base improbable with a 5- to 6 - foot facing pages .
Wood
Elderberry species have shortsighted or no chief trunks . Instead , they have multiple stems unremarkably covered with gray bark , though sometimes the bark is brown or calamitous . The barque is often dotted with set up lenticels , or wart - similar bumps , on the airfoil . Elderberries can also be identified by the twig , which are stout and soft with a spongy ashen pith .
Leaves
black elder have brilliant green , 6- to 12 - inch long compound leaves , which check an rum bit of leaflets . Most have seven leaflets , but there can be anywhere from five to 11 . The 3- to 4 - in leaflet grow in an opposite pattern , with two leaves growing from diametric sides of the same node except for a individual leaf at the end of the arm . Elderberries can be identified by " toothed " folder , which look serrate along the edge .
Flowers
bourtree flower in late natural spring or early summer . The American and blue black elder hold tiny , ashen , fragrant flowers in large , flat clustering that spread up to 8 inches across . The red elderberry also has white-hot blooms , but the clusters are dome - shaped .
Fruit
Elderberry fruit is small ; each unwell , berry - same fruit is less than 1/4 inch in diameter . The American elderberry bear purple - inglorious or disgraceful fruit in 2-dimensional clusters . The downhearted elderberry wait similar to the American , but has dreary blue or blackish berries covered with white bloom . Red common elder have ruby fruit borne in upright , dome - shape clusters . bourtree mature from mid - summer to early spill .
Warning
If identify elderberry to use as intellectual nourishment , quash ruby-red elderberries . grant to Virginia Tech University , carmine elderberries may be toxic when eaten raw , though cooking can move out the toxins . Other experts recommend avoiding even cooked red elderberry . Both American and blue elderberries are safe to devour raw , though cooking improves the flavor .
Also steer percipient of Hercules ' nightclub , a bush or small tree with compound leaves that depend something like the unwashed common elder . It has insipid clusters of venomous , ignominious berries , often arranged in a ring . However , you’re able to narrate them apart because its inadequate , unbranching trunk is thorny , and elderberries are spineless .
References
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