Identification difficulty: Intermediate
Warning: This plant has been mistaken for the very deadly water hemlock. Ingestion of water hemlock can kill in 15 minutes to 2 hours -- often less time than you can get to medical attention.
Even if correctly identified, parts of the elder plant: including roots, bark, leaves and green fruit are poisonous. Only the flowers and ripe fruit are edible, in moderation, and the fruit must be cooked.
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| Thanks to their etherial beauty, it's easy to imagine elderflowers as magical |
Elder quick history
The shrubs we call elder, members of the genus Sambucus, grow throughout most of the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, and were once a staple food and medicine for many different peoples: Native Americans, Europeans, Asians and North Africans. Everywhere it grows its been revered, used as food, flavoring, in wine and liquor-making, medicine, basket making, for perfumes, natural dying and cosmetics, and ritualistically. In Europe especially, elder bushes were believed to have magical powers and to be inhabited by benevolent spirits.
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| Black elderberries are the most common U.S. varieties east of the Rocky Mountains |
There are many individual species of elderberry, all in the the genus Sambucus. They are bushy shrubs or small trees bearing large clusters of white or off-white flowers, though some varieties have been cultivated to bloom pink.
Elderberries are most often defined by the color of their fruit: black, blue or red, though there will be many individual species and varieties producing fruit of each color. In Australia there are also white or yellow-white fruiting species, but I have no experience with them.
Please note: in this post we will be looking at the flowers of black elderberry, but the tips here will also apply to the flowers of blue elder. The flowers of red elder look quite different.
Finding black and blue elderflower
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| It's hard to see in this picture, but this enormous grove of elderberries were growing alongside an old stone millstream |
Some of the best places to look for elder plants, flowers or berries, as well as places to avoid.
- Old homesteads and farmlands, especially directly by the old home, or as the dividing edges between two farms.
- Along old millstreams, especially the kind with stone embankments. Beside old millhouses or lands that formerly had a millhouse.
- River and creek banks, high bluffs over wetlands, and areas that occasionally experience seasonal flooding. All of these areas should have good drainage without long periods of standing water.
- Drainage ditches that would border old farmland, orchards, pastures and especially vineyards. Don't risk contamination by picking from plants growing in culverts off highways, industrial areas, or active farms using pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
- Suburban parks and residential developments built on former farmlands or wetlands.
- Elderberries do not like standing water or areas that flood frequently and remain soaked. If you find a similar-looking plant in these kinds of environments, you most likely have deadly water hemlock, and you should avoid!
Identifying elder in the flowering stage
Elder is reasonably easy to identify when fruiting, but when it's in flower the list of potentially poisonous look-a-likes grows significantly longer and more dangerous.
Elderberry growth
Blue and black elderberries are large shrubs or small trees that can grow up to around 10-12 feet tall.
Sometimes elders grow quite bushy and filled-in, but when crowded into a forest with other trees they will often grow more like a tree--with branches spaced thinly, spread out to catch the light.
Elder bushes will start to produce flowers and fruit at about 2 years old, often when the shrub is as short as 3ft tall.
However, at this age it may still have green stems with no bark. If you are inexperienced, it's advisable to wait till the shrub has bark, as the safest way to rule out deadly poison hemlock.
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| All 7 of the "leaflets" on the left make up one true leaf. The same with the 9 leaflets on the right. |
Elderberry leaves
Elderberry leaves are "oddly pinnately compound".
Compound means that each leaf is actually made up of multiple "leaflets", see the picture above for more detail. Pinnately means that the leaflets are directly opposite one another, not offset. And oddly refers to the fact that there are an odd number of leaflets, with one sticking out at the end.
The entire leaf will be up to 13" inches long, with 5 to 11 leaflets, with 7 or 9 being most common.
Be VERY CAREFUL if you see leaves like those on the right.
As the leaf grows bigger, the leaflets will appear to branch off into triplets (groups of 3). These are actually new leaf stems (petioles) with new compound leaves forming. Only some varieties of elderberry will grow this way.
However, this is very similar to the growth of deadly poisonous water hemlock. If you see bottom leaf division like this, make extra sure to check all the other identifying features to confirm you do not have water hemlock.
Leaf images are for identification only. Elderberry leaves are poisonous.
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| Leaflet detail of the black elderberry |
Elderberry leaflets
Each individual black elderberry leaflet is an elongated oval shape with a pointed tip. They also attach to the leaf stem at a point (Red elderberry leaves are more round).
Leaflets have a subtly serrated edge, which is to say they are saw-like or toothed. The key word is subtle. Elderberry serrations are shallow, often curved partially inward towards the leaf and are very irregular in size and shape.
Deadly poisonous water hemlock has deep serrations that come to sharp points. They angle upwards but don't curve back on themselves, and they are fairly regular in depth, shape and size.
The veins on elderberry leaflets are shallow, they do not pucker the leaf material.
Most importantly, elderberry leaflet veins MOST OFTEN terminate with the tip of the serration.
Water hemlock veins most often terminate in the groves between serration points.
Elderflowers
Just as the leaves of elder are compound, so to are the flowers. Each flower head, known as an umbel, is made up of tiny white or off-white flowers, each with 5 petals.
Each flowerhead looks like it's made of lace.
The flowers grow off the very end of the bush branches. They are not nestled into the leaves.
When the flowers bloom, they weigh down the flower head such that it bends backwards, creating a shape like an umbrella, hence the name "umbel".
Stems/trunks
One of the most important aspects of elderberry identification is the presence of bark on mature plants, which rules out the most dangerous similar-looking plant: water hemlock. Water hemlock is a weedy plant which dies off each fall and grows back. It will never have true woody stems or bark.
Young elder plants will not have bark yet (it takes 2-3 years) but they also most LIKELY won't flower or fruit. To be on the safe side, make sure your perspective elder plant has bark before harvesting -- it's better to potentially miss out than to risk consuming one of the most deadly plants in the world.
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| Faint pink blush staining on young elderberry growth is normal. Dark blotches, stripes, or dark red near the root is a sign of a different plant. |
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| Elderberries will have red on the flower stems after flowering. This will intensify as the plant goes to fruit. |
Young (pre-bark) elderberry growth will often exhibit some reddish staining. This is especially true on the berry stem heads after flowering, but can appear on leaf joints and first-year branches. This is normal, but compare the above images as a reference.
Red staining that is more pronounced than this is probably not elderberry. Poisonous hemlock (not water hemlock--regular hemlock) has red on the stem that appears more like blotches or spots, not general staining. Think of the difference between a blush and a rash. You can learn more about hemlock here.
By the time it's flowering, pokeweed will have reddish staining on the stems but it should be much stronger, more of a solid magenta. Pokeweed red tones will also be stronger nearer to the root (old growth) and less prominent on young growth.
Photinia and Pyracantha can also have red stems, but they will most often be a solid, opaque red, not a blush-like stain.
Note: regular hemlock and pokeweed have very different leaves than elderberry.
Elderflower in the kitchen
As mentioned before, the only parts of the elderberry bush that are edible are the flowers and the fully-ripe fruit. Even then, the fruit must be cooked. The flowers are most often cooked as well.
Flowers that have started to turn into green fruits are dangerous and should not be eaten. Leaves, stems, roots are all poisonous.
The most common way to infuse the flavor of elder into your foods (especially baked goods, sauces and sweets), is to first make a cordial by simmering elderflowers in sugar syrup. Elderflower is sometimes battered with a sweet batter and fried into fritters as well. One can also steam the blossoms in dumplings or brew into a tea.
Sustainability
One special note on elderflower: the flowers will not reform after harvest. So the more flowers you take, the less fruit you can pick later. Also the less fruit for locally wildlife. Keep this in mind, and harvest everything sustainably--especially the flowers.
Elder is also a native plant, not invasive. Treat it with care and do nothing to damage the trunk, root, or branches as you forage.
Potential look-a-likes
Photinia and Pyracantha - probably poisonous
There are many non-native species of bushy shrubs in the genera of Photinia and Pyracantha which are found throughout North America, where they have been planted as ornamentals.
Some species have flowerheads that are similar to elder, white or off-white flowers that come together to make an umbel.
The leaves, while serrated like those of the elder bush, do not come together in flat compound leaves. Instead, they branch individually off the stem, though they cluster closely and may seem compound at first glance.
Some species are dangerously poisonous, some are mildly toxic. None can be considered edible and so care should be taken.
Water hemlocks, members of the genus Cicuta - DEADLY poisonous
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| Image thanks to Helen Lowe Metzman via Wikimedia Commons |
The most dangerous look-a-like for elderflowers are water hemlock blossoms. While other plants might make you sick and may cause long-term problems, like cancer, but water hemlock will kill you before you have a chance to get help.
The flower heads for water hemlock are similar, but GENERALLY somewhat different from elderflower.
Like elderflower, hemlock has tiny white flowers that make an umbel. However, they often have mini clusters of flowers that come together to form circlets which together make up the umbel.
There is a bit of variation in flowers though, and the leaf is a better way to rule out water hemlock.
As you can see in this image from Wikipedia Commons, the water hemlocks have DEEPLY toothed leaves, and the leaf veins generally terminate in the deep areas of the serrations--not on the peaks. (Click to enlarge for detail)
Viburnum Species - Possibly Poisonous
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| Viburnum Japonicum, Wikipedia Commons |
There are many, many species of Viburnum in North America, some of which are native and some of which are introduced in landscaping. The flowers of many of them look similar to Elderberry, which is unsurprising as they are rather closely related in the family Adoxaceae. Despite the flowers being similar (white floral umbels), the leaves are quite different. Viburnum do not have elongated compound leaves, they have single leaves that are rounded ovals or occasionally spade-shaped.
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