''Sambucus sieboldiana'', commonly called the Japanese red elder, is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub in the moschatel family (

Adoxaceae Adoxaceae, commonly known as moschatel family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Dipsacales, now consisting of five genera and about 150–200 species. They are characterised by opposite toothed leaves, small five- or, more rare ...

). It is native to East Asia, where it is found in Japan and Korea.''Sambucus racemosa'' ssp. ''sieboldiana''
(in Japanese), Flora of Mikawa Its natural habitat is in thickets and forest edges, in low elevations. It is a common species throughout its range.

Description

It is a deciduous

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing up to a height of tall. Its leaves are opposite and pinnately compound, with 5-7 toothed leaflets. It produces a panicle of small white flowers in late spring, which are insect pollinated and

hermaphroditic In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separ ...

. Its fruits are ~4 mm long, red, and round. They are dispersed by birds.''Sambucus racemosa'' ssp. ''sieboldiana''
(in Japanese), Okayama University Plant Ecology Laboratory File:Sambucus sieboldiana.jpg, Mature red fruits

Taxonomy

The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''sieboldiana'' refers to German physician and botanist

Philipp Franz von Siebold Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold (17 February 1796 – 18 October 1866) was a German physician, botanist and traveler. He achieved prominence by his studies of Japanese flora (plants), flora and fauna (animals), fauna and the introduction of ...

(1796-1866).D. Gledhill A closely related plant in China, ''

Sambucus williamsii ''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 ...

'', was once included in ''Sambucus sieboldiana'' but is now classified as a separate species.

Toxins

Members of this genus are poisonous and the fruit has been known to cause stomach upsets in some people, but no records of this have been found for ''S. sieboldiana''; any toxins that may be in the fruit would be destroyed upon cooking and would have a low toxicity.

References

sieboldiana Flora of Eastern Asia Plants described in 1909 {{Dipsacales-stub