Elderberry

Appearance

Elderberry is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 6 m tall and wide, rarely reaching 10 m tall. The bark, light grey when young, changes to a coarse grey outer bark with lengthwise furrowing, lenticels prominent. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, 10–30 cm long, pinnate with five to seven leaflets, the leaflets 5–12 cm long and 3–5 cm broad, with a serrated margin. The young stems are hollow. The English term for the tree is not believed to come from the word "old", but from the Anglo Saxon "æld", meaning fire, because the hollow stems of the branches were used as bellows to blow air into a fire.

The hermaphroditic flowers have five stamens, which are borne in large, flat corymbs 10–25 cm diameter in late spring to mid-summer, the individual flowers are ivory white, 5–6 mm diameter, with five petals; they are pollinated by flies.

The fruit is a glossy, dark purple to black berry 3–5 mm diameter, produced in drooping clusters in late autumn; they are an important food for many fruit-eating birds, notably blackcaps.

Naming

There are several other closely related species, native to Asia and North America, which are similar, and sometimes treated as subspecies of "Sambucus nigra". The blue or Mexican elderberry, "Sambucus mexicana", is now generally treated as one or two subspecies of "Sambucus nigra" subsp. "canadensis" and "Sambucus nigra" subsp. "caerulea".

Habitat

Hedges, waste-ground roadsides, and woods are the typical habitats for the species.
"S. nigra" is recorded as very common in Ireland in hedges as scrub in woods.

Uses

The dark blue or purple berries are mildly poisonous in their raw state. Unripe berries, the seeds of the fruit, and all green parts of the plant are poisonous, containing cyanogenic glycosides. The berries are edible after cooking and may be used to make jam, jelly, chutney, and Pontack sauce. In Scandinavia and Germany, soup made from the elderberry is a traditional meal.

Commonly, the flowerheads are used in infusions, giving a drink in Northern Europe and the Balkans. These drinks are sold commercially as elderflower cordial. In Europe, the flowers are made into a syrup or cordial saft, in Danish: hyldeblomstsaft / hyldedrik), which is diluted with water before drinking. The popularity of this traditional drink recently has encouraged some commercial soft drink producers to introduce elderflower-flavoured drinks. The flowers also may be dipped into a light batter and then fried to make elderflower fritters.

The berries may be made into elderberry wine. In Hungary, an elderberry brandy is made that requires 50 kg of fruit to produce 1 litre of brandy. In south-western Sweden, it is traditional to make a snaps liqueur flavoured with elderflower. Elderflowers are used in liqueurs such as St-Germain, and in a mildly alcoholic sparkling elderflower 'champagne', although a more alcoholic home-made version can be made. In Beerse, Belgium, a variety of jenever called "beers vlierke" is made from the berries.The strong-smelling foliage was used in the past, tied to a horse's mane, to keep flies away while riding.