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| ## Common elderberry {#common-elderberry .Title-Header}               |
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| *Sambucus nigra* L. ssp. *canadensis* (L.) R. Bolli                   |
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| Plant Symbol = SANIC4                                                 |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

### Alternate Names

Arizona elderberry, American elder, sweet elder, wild elder, flor sauco,
tree of music, Danewort, Walewort, New Mexican elderberry, velvet-leaf
elder, hairy blue elderberry, and dwarf elder. Taxonomically, there have
been recent changes in this elderberry species. It was previously
divided into *Sambucus coriacea*, *Sambucus orbiculata*, *Sambucus
velutina*, and *Sambucus caerulea* (Munz 1968). This species is known in
some floras as *Sambucus mexicana*.

### Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: Only the blue or purple berries of elderberry are
edible. Edible berries and flower are used for medicine, dyes for
basketry, arrow shafts, flute, whistles, clapper sticks, and folk
medicine. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid
and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be
observed with this plant. Elderberries are high in Vitamin C. [The red
berries of other species are toxic]{.underline} and should not be
gathered.

The wood is hard and has been used for combs, spindles, and pegs, and
the hollow stems have been fashioned into flutes and blowguns.

Elderberries are quite edible. The blue or purple berries are gathered
and made into elderberry wine, jam, syrup, and pies. The entire flower
cluster can be dipped in batter and fried while petals can be eaten raw
or made into a fragrant and tasty tea. The flowers add an aromatic
flavor and lightness to pancakes or fritters.

The elderberry is of well-known value to the Indians of North America
and the many purposes it serves (Barrow 1967). Elderberry is highly
prized by both Spaniards and Cahuillas. Throughout the months of July
and August the small clusters of berries are gathered in large
quantities. These clusters are dried carefully on the drying floor and
preserved in considerable amounts. When wanted, they are cooked into a
rich sauce that needs no sweetening. A Cahuilla family during this
season of the year will subsist largely on these messes of \"sauco.\"
Frequently, the elderberry was so greatly enjoyed that families would
live for weeks on little else. Many were dried for use in the winter,
and were either re-cooked or eaten raw. Elderberries are still highly
prized for food by modern Indian people.
![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6993055555555556in"
height="1.8027777777777778in"}

Elderberry twigs and fruit are employed in creating dyes for basketry.
These stems are dyed a very deep black by soaking them for a week or so
in a wash made from the berry stems of the elderberry (Barrows 1967).
The Cahuilla split basketry materials from the aromatic sumac (*Rhus
trilobata*).

Elderberry branches were used to make the shaft of arrows. Flutes and
whistles were constructed by boring holes into stems hollowed out with
hot sticks. Clapper sticks were made by splitting the stem and clapping
the two halves against each other. Clapper sticks were used ceremonially
in the round-house to accompany singing and dancing. The pith of the
stems was used as tinder, and the stem itself was employed as a twirling
stick for starting the fire. Hollowed-out elderberry stems can be made
into squirt guns.

In the middle ages elderberry was considered a Holy Tree, capable of
restoring good health, keeping good health, and as an aid to longevity.

Fruits of elderberry are gathered from the wild for wine, jellies,
candy, pies, and sauces. The plants are commercially cultivated for
fruit production in Oregon. *Sambucus canadensis* and *S. nigra* have
long been used in the same way, and cultivars of both have been
developed. All parts of the elderberry plant are considered to be a
valuable healing plant in many folk medicine traditions (Hutchens 1991,
Walker et al. 1993; Barrett et al. 1933; Clarke 1977). Elderberry
flowers contain flavenoids and rutin, which are known to improve immune
function, particularly in combination with vitamin "C." The flowers also
contain tannins, which account for its traditional use to reduce
bleeding, diarrhea, and congestion.

The flowers are the mildest part of the plant and prepared as a tea, are
used to break dry fevers and stimulate perspiration, aid headache,
indigestion, twitching eyes, dropsy, rheumatism, appendix inflammation,
bladder or kidney infections, colds, influenza, consumption (bleeding in
lungs), and is helpful to newborn babies (Hutchens 1991). Used as a
wash, the flowers or leaves are good for wounds, sprains, and bruises,
as well as for sores on domestic animals. The leaves, which are
stronger, have a slightly laxative property. Applied externally, leaves,
flowers, bark and twigs are excellent as a poultice, mixed equally with
chamomile, for soreness, inflammations, joint stiffness, and to reduce
the swelling of bee stings. The flowers and berries, employed as a
diuretic, can aid arthritis and rheumatism. Steeped in water, the
flowers are used externally to aid in complexion beauty, tone and soften
the skin, and lighten freckles or spots. The berry juice made into salve
aids burns and scalds. The juice taken internally will act as a
purgative.

*Livestock*: Elderberry is a useful range plant for domestic livestock,
but is not equally palatable during all seasons. It is usually receives
limited browsing in the spring and to a much greater extent in the late
summer and fall. The leaves are eagerly devoured after the first heavy
frost in the fall. Because many branches are beyond the reach of the
animals, utilization is less destructive. Browse rating: Good for goats;
good to fair for sheep; good to poor for deer; fair for cattle; and fair
to poor for horses (Sampson and Jesperson 1981).

*Wildlife*: Structurally complex riparian vegetation communities provide
many different habitats and support a diverse array of animal species.
Different groups of animals occupy or use the different layers of
vegetation, and this multi-story arrangement is often present nowhere
else in the arid landscapes. Canopies of plants growing on stream banks
provide shade, cooling stream water, while roots stabilize and create
overhanging banks, providing habitat for fish and other aquatic
organisms.

Game birds, squirrels and other rodents, and several kinds of browsers
also feed on the fruit or foliage of elderberry. Bears love to eat the
elderberry fruits while deer, elk, and moose browse on the stems and
foliage. The elderberries are important sources of summer food for many
kinds of songbirds. For example, the western bluebird, indigo bunting,
common house finch, red-shafted flicker, ash-throated flycatcher,
black-headed grosbeak, scrub jay, Stellar jay, ruby-crowned kinglet,
mockingbird, red-breasted nuthatch, Bullock's oriole, hooded oriole,
song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, western tanager, California
thrasher, russet-backed thrush, brown towhee, Audubon warbler, cedar
waxwing, Lewis and Nuttall\'s woodpecker, wren-tit, grouse, pheasant,
and pigeons all eat elderberries (Martin et al. 1951).

The valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) (*Desmocerus californicus
dimorphus*) was listed as threatened under The Endangered Species Act on
August 8, 1980. The elderberry beetle is endemic to moist valley oak
riparian woodlands along the margins of rivers and streams in the lower
Sacramento and upper San Joaquin Valley of California where elderberry
grows. The primary threat to the VELB is loss of habitat, insecticide
and herbicide use, and lack of elderberry shrubs/trees as a food plant
for the beetle. The mitigation for VELB habitat loss, considered a
taking under The Endangered Species Act, is quite stringent (U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service Mitigation Guidelines).

In general, longhorn beetles are characterized by somewhat elongate and
cylindrical bodies with long antennae, often in excess of 2/3 of the
body length. Male VELB have a metallic-green pattern of 4 oblong
maculations, surrounded by a bright red-orange border. The body length
is about 13-21 mm, and antennae are about a long as the body. Females
are more robust, with body length about 18-25 mm, and the dark pattern
is not reduced.

Elderberry is planted because of its forage and cover value,
productivity, adaptability, and ease of establishment. It is a useful
ground cover for stabilizing streambanks and eroding sites. It provides
food, cover, perching, and nesting sites for many species of birds and
food and cover for various other wildlife, and it is important as browse
for mule deer and elk. In the spring the leaves may be strongly scented
and less palatable, but they sweeten and become more palatable by fall.

### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, wetland indicator
values. Western riparian ecosystems have been greatly altered by human
activity. Riparian forests have been reduced to fragmented,
discontinuous patches because of human intervention. For example,
estimates are that 70 - 90 percent of the natural riparian ecosystems in
the U.S. have been lost to human activities. Regional losses in these
ecosystems have been estimated to exceed 98% in the Sacramento Valley in
California. Many factors have contributed to these resource losses,
including the following: natural resource use; urbanization; alteration
of stream flows through dam construction and ground-water withdrawal;
modification of biotic conditions through grazing, agriculture,
introduction of non-native species; and alteration within watersheds.

### Description

*General*: Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). Native shrubs growing
2-4(-8) m tall, less commonly small single-stemmed trees, young twigs
soft and pithy but the wood hard; bark thin, grayish to dark brown,
irregularly furrowed and ridged. The pinnately compound leaves are
deciduous, opposite, about 15-35 cm long, odd-pinnate with (3-)5-9
serrate leaflets 2-15 cm long, often with a long stalk, often
asymmetrical at the base. Elderberry leaves, especially on seedlings or
shrub-sized plants (without fruits or flowers) resemble California
walnut (*Juglans hindsii*) and Oregon ash (*Fraxinus latifolia*). The
inflorescence is flat-topped, 4-20(-30) cm across, broader than high;
flowers bisexual, the corollas small, white to cream, rotate, 5-lobed,
with a pleasant, yet slightly rancid odor. Fruit is berry-like, 5-6 mm
wide, with 3-5 nutlets, blue- to purple-black at maturity with a
white-waxy bloom and appearing powder blue. The common name "elder" is
from the Anglo-Saxon "ellen," meaning fire-kindler, the dry, pithy
stems; blue from the fruit color.

*Distribution*: Common elderberry is common along stream banks, river
banks, and open places in riparian areas lower than \< 3000 m. From west
Texas north to Montana, western Alberta, and southern British Columbia,
and all other western states, south into northwest Mexico. For current
distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on
the PLANTS Web site.

### Adaptation 

Elderberry grows on moist, well-drained sunny sites, usually occurring
in early seral communities or in openings in moist forest habitats
(slopes, canyons, cliff bases, streamsides, streambanks) and moist areas
within drier, more open habitats (sagebrush, mountain brush,
pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, often along fence rows and roads); at
elevations of 3-3000 meters. Elderberry is a dominant understory species
in riparian woodlands. It can persist past seral stages as scattered
individuals in open forests, woodlands, chaparral, or riparian zones.
This species flowers from May to September and fruits from July to
October. Common elderberry is more common on warmer sites than red
elderberry (*Sambucus* *racemosa*), although they overlap in habitat
preference.

In California, common riparian woodland associates are valley oak
(*Quercus lobata*), interior live oak (*Quercus wislizenii*), California
walnut (*Juglans hindsii*), and California sycamore (*Platanus
racemosa*). Box elder (*Acer negundo*), Oregon ash (*Fraxinus
latifolia*), alder (*Alnus rhombifolia*), and willow (*Salix gooddingii,
Salix exigua, Salix lasiandra, and Salix laevigata*) are particularly
prevalent in the subcanopy. Understory species are mostly shrubs,
including elderberry (*Sambucus mexicana)*, buttonbush (*Cephalanthus
occidentalis)*, blackberry (*Rubus* spp.), and California rose (*Rosa
californica*). Lianas, such as poison oak (*Toxicodendron diversiloba*)
and California grape (*Vitis californica*) are a dominant feature.
Herbaceous vegetation is 1% cover except in openings where tall forbs
may occur.

### Establishment

Elderberry produces a good seed crop almost every year. The seeds are
dispersed by birds and other animals that eat the fruit. The seeds have
a hard seed coat and embryo dormancy and may remain viable for up to 16
years in storage. Without pretreatment, seed germination may be delayed
from 2 to 5 years after planting. Plants may flower and fruit after only
2-3 years and can reach full size in 3-4 years. They are said to be
"short-lived." Vegetative reproduction is limited to coppicing if the
stems are killed or injured.

*Seeds*:

Elderberry grows best from seed.

Elderberry fruits are collected when ripe and spread in thin layers to
dry.

To separate seeds from fruits either 1) run fruit through a macerator
with water and the pulp and empty seeds float; 2) crush, dry and use
without separating fruits and seeds; and 3) for small amounts of fruit
they can be cleaned in a fruit blender.

• Elderberry seed can be stored dry at 41 °F for several years.

• Elderberry seeds can be sown in the fall soon after collection, or
stratified and sown in the spring. In either case, germination is often
not complete until the second spring.

• A seedling density of 35 plant per square foot is sought. Seeds are
sown 1/4 inch deep in drills and covered with about 3/8 inch of sawdust
mulch.

• In the greenhouse, seeds are warm stratified for two months in a
mixture of peat, vermiculite, and sand at 21° to 30°C; (70 to 85°F).
Seeds are then placed close to the soil surface in flats in the
greenhouse. There are usually several hundred seeds in one seed flat.

• Seedlings are then potted from the flats in deep 3\" pots.

• After one season of growth, the seedlings are field planted in the
fall or spring when they are 6 to 8 months old. If planted in the fall
irrigation may not be necessary in moist sites. In drier sites or with
spring planting, irrigation will be required for seedling establishment.

#### *Cuttings*:

• Cuttings of elderberry tend to have lower survival success than
establishment from seed.

• Use hardwood cuttings from previous seasons growth.

• Take \"heel cuttings\" from older wood, so inner pith is not exposed.

• Cuttings should be at least 10\", and have at least two nodes.
Cuttings are placed in 4\" pots with perlite and peat. Plants are kept
moist.

• Cuttings have a fragile root system, with high mortality occurring
when transplanted. Care should be taken to be very gentle with delicate
roots when transplanting.

• The cuttings, which do survive, seem to establish and grow faster.
Plant biomass production, height, flowering and seed set is more rapid
than with seedlings.

#### *Transplanting Trees and Stems*:

-   All elderberry plants with evidence of valley elderberry longhorn
    beetle use (i.e. emergence holes or presence of adults) should be
    transplanted, as they provide habitat for a threatened species under
    The Endangered Species Act. For further technical information, call
    a representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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-   Cut tree back to 3 to 6 feet from the ground or to 50 percent of its
    height (whichever is greater) by removing branches and stems above
    this height. The trunk and all stems greater than 1.5 inches in
    diameter can be replanted.

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-   If the presence of tunnels excavated by the beetle larvae inside the
    elderberry stem and trunk are detected, place pruned material next
    to transplanted elderberries.

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-   Move plant by the root ball. Keep the root ball wet.

-   Place transplant in holes 3 to 4 feet deep.

-   Construct circular water retention basin from the excavated earth
    about 8-10 feet in diameter and 12 to 14 inches high. Plant the main
    trunk of an elderberry in the center of each water basin. Plant
    other stems that have been rooted around the circumference of the
    basin.

-   Saturate soil with water. Irrigate as necessary, especially through
    first growing season.

### Management

In six riparian restoration projects carried out in California,
competition from exotic weed species was a key factor in mortality and
site failure (Baird 1989). On small sites, hand weeding around trees and
shrubs is the most effective means of weed control. One way to avoid
competition from weeds on larger sites is to remove the surface soil,
although this has the disadvantage of removing nutrients, mycorrhizal
fungi, bacteria, and insect and invertebrate populations critical to a
healthy habitat. A cover crop of native wildflowers was also used to
control weeds, with wildflower seeds hand-broadcast over the site. On
wetter, heavier soils this does not seem to provide effective weed
control.

There is considerable evidence that fertilization can favor exotic weeds
over native plants. Inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi enables seedlings
of some species to better utilize limited supplies of both water and
nutrients. Inoculation of transplanted shrubs may be accomplished
through inclusion of large (1.2 m deep by 2.8 m wide) root balls with
plants. Smaller, more economical soil plugs scattered throughout the
site serve the same purpose. The number of soil plugs needed to ensure
the establishment of soil flora is directly related to the distance of
the restoration site from a similar, mature community.

Given that elderberry provides habitat for the federally listed valley
longhorn elderberry beetle, livestock grazing of elderberry is not
recommended. Livestock grazing can alter vegetative structure and
composition of riparian habitat. Overgrazing by livestock and big game
frequently changes plant species composition and growth form, density of
stands, vigor, seed production of plants, and insect production.

Clear-cutting or seed tree cutting with high soil disturbance sometimes
favors the development of elderberry in a seral community. It recovers
well from heavy grazing in the Great Basin. For use in site
stabilization or rehabilitation, seeds may be planted directly or
seedlings and 1-2-year old stock may be transplanted. It also grows from
transplanted seedlings, cuttings, and rootstocks.

Elderberry usually is not present in the understory of closed-canopy
forests, and when fire occurs in these, regeneration occurs from seed
banks that may occur between 2-10 cm deep in the soil, the seeds
deposited from off-site dispersal or from plants of an earlier
community. Fire scarifies the hard seed coat of buried seeds and
stimulates their germination, which usually occurs the first growing
season after the fire. Subsequent burns may eliminate elderberry since
it spreads slowly by seed. Fire kills above-ground parts but the root
crown may sprout but a severe fire can kill the root and stem buds from
which sprouting occurs.

### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are somewhat available from commercial sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

### References

Arnold, R.A. 1984. *Interim report for contract C-616 with the
California Department of Fish and Game*. 14 pp.

Baird, K. 1989. *High quality restoration of riparian ecosystems*.
Restoration and Management Notes 7(2):60-64.

Barrett, S.A. & E.W. Gifford 1933. *Miwok material culture*. Indian Life
of the Yosemite Region. Yosemite Association, Yosemite National Park,
California. 387 pp.

Barrows, D.P. 1967. *Ethno-botany of the Coahuilla Indians*. Malki
Museum Press. Banning, California. 82 pp.

Bolli, R. 1994. *Revision of the genus* *Sambucus*. Dissert. Bot.
223:1-227.

Burke, H.E. 1921. *Biological notes on Desmocerus , a genus of roundhead
borers, the species of which infests various elders*. J. Econ. Ent.
14:450-452.

Clarke, C.B. 1977. *Edible and useful plants of California*. University
of California Press. 280 pp.

Crane, M. F. 1989. *Sambucus cerulea*. IN: W.C. Fischer (compiler). *The
fire effects information system* \[Data base\]. USDA, Forest Service,
Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory.
Missoula, Montana. \<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/\>

Cronquist, A., A.H. Holmgren, N.H. Holmgren et al. 1984. *Intermountain
flora: Vascular plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A*. *Vol. 4.
Subclass Asteridae,* (*except Asteraceae*). The New York Botanical
Garden. New York, New York.

Eriksson, T. & M.J. Donoghue 1997. Phylogenetic relationships of
*Sambucus* and *Adoxa* (Adoxoideae, Adoxaceae) based on nuclear
ribosomal ITS sequences and preliminary morphological data. Syst. Bot.
22:555-574.

Felter, H.W. & J.U. Lloyd 2000. *Sambucus*. IN King's American
Dispensatory. Web site.

\<http://metalab.unc.edu/herbmed/eclectic/kings/sambucus.html\>

Finn, C. 1999. *Temperate berry crops*. Pp. 324--334. IN: J. Janick
(ed.), *Perspectives on new crops and new uses*. ASHS Press, Alexandria,
Virginia.
\<http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-324.html#elderberry\>

Hartmann, H.T., D.E. Kesler, & F.T. Davies, Jr. 1990. *Plant propagation
principles and practices*. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
647 pp.

Hickman, J.C. (ed.) 1993. *The Jepson manual. Higher plants of
California*. University of California Press. 1400 pp.

Hutchens, A.R. 1991. *Indian herbalogy of North America*. Shambhala
Books, Boston and London. pp 114-117.

Martin, A.C., H.S. Zim, and A.L. Nelson 1951. *American wildlife and
plants: A guide to wildlife food habits*. Dover Publications, Inc., New
York, New York. 500 pp.

Munz, P.A. 1968. *A California flora*. University of California Press.
224 pp.

Murphy, E.V.A. 1959. *Indian uses of native plants*. Mendocino County
Historical Society. 81 pp.

Powers, S. 1976. *Tribes of California*. University of California Press.
480 pp.

Roos-Collins, M. 1990*. The flavors of home. A guide to wild edible
plants of the San Francisco Bay area*. Heyday Books, Berkeley,
California. 224 pp.

Sampson, A.S. & B.S. Jesperson 1981. *California range brushlands and
browse plants*. Agricultural Sciences Publications. University of
California. Berkeley, California. 162 pp.

Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. *Seeds of woody plants in the United States*.
Agriculture Handbook No. 450. Forest Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Washington, D.C. 883 pp.

Walker, P.L. & T. Hudson 1993. *Chumash healing*. Changing Health and
Medical Practices in an American Indian Society. Malki Museum Press,
Banning, California. 161 pp.

### Prepared By

*Michelle Stevens*

Formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

### Species Coordinator

## *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Department,
University of California, Davis, California

Edited 03apr01 jsp; 03jun03 ahv; 060816 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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