These shrubs also are used for landscaping and wildlife habitat.
Elderberries are upright, spreading shrubs that grow six to twelve feet high.
Their leaves are opposite and compound with five to eleven leaflets, similar to green and white ash trees. Leaves also have serrated margins. The fruit is a smooth globular berry that measures three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. The broad, flat clusters of berries, which ripen in early August to late September, are deep purple to black. Many birds and mammals feed on the fruit.