Native Plants of the Month: Red & Blue Elderberries (Sambucus sp.)
by Erica Guttman
Even with spring blooms abounding, the pyramids of red elderberry blossoms bobbing in the wind are sure eye-catchers. And the blue elderberry will follow with flat-topped flowers within about a month.
What’s in a Name?
The elderberries are part of the Honeysuckle Family (Caprifoliaceae), along with our local twinberry and snowberry. The scientific name for red elderberry is Sambucus racemosa, and for blue it’s Sambucus cerulea. “Sambucus” is simply Latin for elder, a widespread shrub throughout the world. “Racemosa” refers to the raceme, or elongated inflorescence. “Cerulea” refers to the blue fruits of the blue elder.
General Descriptions
Both elderberries tend to be leggy shrubs of about 20 feet, although the blue elderberry can become quite massive and tree-like under the right conditions. In spring and summer, it’s easy to distinguish them by their flowers and leaves. Both have flower clusters with tiny, densely packed, creamy white blooms. The red elder’s flowers are pyramidal, while the blue has a broad, flat-topped inflorescence.
Both elders have pinnately compound leaves borne opposite of one another. The individual leaflets are narrow, pointed and finely toothed, and at this time of year the new foliage has a distinctive, rather unpleasant smell when crushed. The red elder has five to seven leaflets per leaf, while the blue has five to nine; also, the blue elder’s leaves tend to be broader than the red’s. In our area, by the time the blue elderberry flowers in later May to early June, the red elderberry flowers are already transitioning into fruits.
As their names imply, once they fruit, there is no mistaking these two species. The red elder has a cluster of small, brilliantly scarlet fruits that remain bright well into the fall. Blue elderberries are usually covered with a light glaucous coating, giving the dark berries a seemingly lighter appearance.
In the winter, they have an unmistakable appearance, with very prominent, warty lenticels — the places where gas exchanges occur — all along the stem. Bark colors range from green with a waxy grey coating to reddish brown on older wood. Because these species grow so quickly, one sees substantial spaces between each bud; and the buds are so large and obvious that one might think this plant leafs out in mid-winter. The form of the elders is also distinctive: multiple stems arise from the base and curve outwards to form a vase-like shape.
Distribution & Ecology
Although the two species have wide distributions and even seemingly similar ecological preferences, as Kozloff points out “the two kinds of elderberry do not often mix.” Both are adapted to moist to dry soils, and can grow well in full sun to partial shade. The red elderberry grows from lowlands to the mountains from southern Alaska to central Oregon. The blue ranges across the Cascades to western Montana, and extends from British Columbia south to California.
In our area, we tend to see the red elderberry commonly in central Thurston County in our mixed forests and along stream banks. Blue elderberries are more common in parts of northern and southern Thurston County, especially in cleared areas or prairie-like landscapes.
In the Landscape
Because they are so widely adapted to a variety of growing conditions, either or both elderberry species are wonderful additions to almost any local native landscape. Their quick growth is especially pleasing to impatient gardeners who want to have a sense of a mature landscape within just a few years. And those gardeners who love to prune and shape can do no harm to the resilient elderberries.
The creamy flowers and bright fruits are not just attractive to humans. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies, and the fruits are eaten by numerous species of small mammals. Kruckeberg notes: “Those who would lure birds to their gardens would do well to grow either species.”
Ethnobotany
Both species of elderberry were and still are widely used by humans. Pojar and MacKinnon point out that “caches of red elderberries have been found in archaeological sites dating back hundreds of years.” The twigs, foliage, roots, and bark are all highly toxic if ingested, but the berries themselves are useful.
Elderberries are prized for making jellies and wines, although one has to be much more careful with the red berries: the seeds contain a compound that will cause severe nausea if not strained out or cooked. Although a few raw red elderberries won’t cause much harm, they are apparently so awful tasting that most folks don’t bother. J.E. Underhill’s opinion is that red elderberries are “to be enjoyed for [their] eye appeal rather than for any taste appeal.”
References
Plants and Animals of the Pacific Northwest. E. Kozloff. 1976. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA
Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast. J. Pojar & A. MacKinnon. 1994. Lone Pine Publishing, Redmond, WA.
Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest. A. Kruckeberg. 1982. University of Washington Press, Seattle, WA.
Grow Your Own Native Landscape. M. Leigh. 1997. Native Plant Salvage Project/WSU Cooperative Extension — Thurston County.
Winter in the Woods. E. Guttman & R. Thurman. 1999. Native Plant Salvage Project/WSU Cooperative Extension — Thurston County.
Northwestern Wild Berries. J.E. Underhill. 1980. Hancock House Publishers, Inc., Blaine, WA.
Erica Guttman is a staff writer for the Green Pages.