What Does An Elderberry Bush Look Like
If you want to identify an elderberry plant in your area, look for clusters of small white flowers, drooping purple fruit, and hard, woody bark. Never eat the seeds, stems, leaves, or roots of the elderberry plant, as they are poisonous in high doses. Elderberry is a woody shrub, not a herbaceous plant.
This means youll see woody stems with bark. If youve got a pliable green plant, you havent got an elderberry bush and may have stumbled upon one of its more toxic look-alikes. The two species most commonly grown for landscape and edible purposes are American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and European elderberry (S.
nigra). In early to mid-summer, white blooms in clusters called umbels become deep purple to black colored fruits in the fall. Elderberry plants are deciduous shrubs or small trees.
They have pinnate leaves, with several leaflets. They produce clusters of small, white, or cream-colored flowers with a sweet fragrance. These flowers bloom in late spring to early summer.
The berries are small, red, dark purple to black when ripe, growing in clusters. In order to correctly identify elderberry in the wild, youll want to evaluate several parts and features of the plant, such as the plants size, whether its woody or pliable, taking note of the bark, leaves, flowers, and berry arrangement. Wild elderberry typically grows between 5 to 12 feet tall, depending on the species and growing conditions.
Its shape is bushy, with multiple stems that arise from the base, creating a sprawling, dense appearance.
