''Sambucus racemosa'' is a species of

elderberry ''Sambucus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Adoxaceae. The various species are commonly called elder or elderberry. The genus was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified as Adoxaceae due to ge ...

known by the common names red elderberry and red-berried elder.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to Europe, northern temperate Asia, and North America across

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It grows in

riparian A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks a ...

environments,

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

s, and other

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, generally in moist areas.

Description

''Sambucus racemosa'' is often a treelike shrub growing tall. The stems are soft with a

pith Pith, or medulla, is a tissue in the stems of vascular plants. Pith is composed of soft, spongy parenchyma cells, which in some cases can store starch. In eudicotyledons, pith is located in the center of the stem. In monocotyledons, it ext ...

y center. Each individual leaf is composed of 5 to 7 leaflike leaflets, each of which is up to long, lance-shaped to narrowly oval, and irregularly serrated along the edges. The leaflets have a strong disagreeable odor when crushed.Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina: Red Elderberry (''Sambucus racemosa'' var. ''pubens'')
/ref> The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a vaguely cone-shaped panicle of several cymes of flowers blooming from the ends of stem branches. The flower buds are pink when closed, and the open flowers are white, cream, or yellowish. Each flower has small, recurved petals and a star-shaped axis of five white stamens tipped in yellow anthers. The flowers are fragrant and visited by hummingbirds and butterflies. The fruit is a bright red or sometimes purple drupe containing 3 to 5 seeds.

Varieties and subspecies

* ''Sambucus racemosa'' subsp. ''kamtschatica'' — red elder, native to Northeastern Asia. * ''Sambucus racemosa'' var. ''melanocarpa'' — Rocky Mountain elder, native to the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

, including the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

s and Sierra Nevada. * ''Sambucus racemosa'' subsp. ''pubens'' — American red elder, native to Eastern North America * ''Sambucus racemosa'' subsp. ''racemosa'' — European red elder. * ''Sambucus racemosa'' var. ''racemosa'' — Pacific red elderberry. * ''Sambucus racemosa'' subsp. ''sibirica'' — red elder, native to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. * ''Sambucus racemosa'' subsp. ''sieboldiana'' — Japanese red elder

Uses

The stems, roots and foliage are

poisonous Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...

, and the berries can be toxic or cause nausea if eaten raw.

Medicinal plant

It has been used as a traditional

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

by Native Americans, including the Bella Coola, Carrier,

Gitksan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous peoples in Canada, Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan ...

Hesquiaht The Hesquiaht are one of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples of the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Today the Hesquiaht are governed mostly by the Hesquiaht First Nation band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (fre ...

Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...

, Northern Paiute, Ojibwa,

Paiute Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...

, Potawatomi, Tlingit, and Haida peoples.University of Michigan at Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany for '' Sambucus racemosa''
/ref> The uses included as an

emetic Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenteritis ...

, antidiarrheal, cold and cough remedy, dermatological and gynecological aid, and a hemostat.

Food

The fruits are reportedly safe to eat when cooked, but are potentially poisonous when raw. They were cooked in a variety of recipes by indigenous peoples, including by the Apache, Bella Coola,

Gitxsan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxi ...

, Gosiute,

Makah The Makah (; Klallam: ''màq̓áʔa'')Renker, Ann M., and Gunther, Erna (1990). "Makah". In "Northwest Coast", ed. Wayne Suttles. Vol. 7 of '' Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Instit ...

, Ojibwa,

Quileute The Quileute , are a Native American people in western Washington state in the United States, currently numbering approximately 2,000. They are a federally recognized tribe: the ''Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation''. The Quileute peo ...

, Skokomish,

Yurok The Yurok (Karuk language: Yurúkvaarar / Yuru Kyara - "downriver Indian; i.e. Yurok Indian") are an Indigenous people from along the Klamath River and Pacific coast, whose homelands are located in present-day California stretching from Trinidad ...

peoples. The fruits are popular with birds, who also distribute the seeds.Pojar, J. & A. MacKinnon. (1994). ''Plants of the Pacific Northwest''. Lone Pine Publishing. The flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Cultivation

''Sambucus racemosa'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

, for use as a shrub or small tree in traditional and

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or wild garden) is an environment created by a gardener that serves as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plants, birds, amphibian ...

s, and natural landscape design projects.

Cultivars

Cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s in the nursery trade include: *''Sambucus racemosa'' 'Black Lace' — burgundy foliage *''Sambucus racemosa'' 'Lemon Lace' — golden yellow and green foliage *''Sambucus racemosa'' 'Lemony Lace' — golden green foliage, with red new growth *''Sambucus racemosa'' 'Sutherland Gold' — green foliage, with bronze new growth: it has received the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

's Award of Garden Merit.

Images

File:Sambucus_racemosa_1567.JPG, Fruit (

Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

) File:0 Sambucus racemosa - Vallorcine.JPG, Leaves and buds of the red elderberry File:Sambucus_racemosa_6269.JPG, Inflorescence and foliage File:Sambucus racemosa ies.jpg, Clusters of berries Sambucus racemosa racemosa & melanocarpa range map 3.png, Natural range of ''S. racemosa'' var. ''racemosa'' (green) and var. ''melanocarpa'' (blue) in western North America.

References

External links

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q157276 racemosa Flora of Europe Flora of temperate Asia Flora of Canada Flora of the Eastern United States Flora of the Western United States Flora of California Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Berries Bird food plants Butterfly food plants Edible plants Garden plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status