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Home  /  Plants  /  Budburst Species  /  Sambucus nigra
Phenology Observation Sheet for Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

COMMON NAME

Black elderberry

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Sambucus nigra

ALSO KNOWN AS

American elder, Blue elder, Common elderberry, European black elderberry, Wild elder

Plant family

(Viburnaceae)

Plant group

Deciduous Trees and Shrubs

Black elderberries are deciduous shrubs with 3-9 paired leaflets per leaf. The clusters of flowers are white to cream-colored and later produce clusters of purple to black berries.
306 reports
80+
OBSERVERS
306+
OBSERVATIONS
!

Identification hints

Black elderberries are deciduous shrubs with 3-9 paired leaflets per leaf. The clusters of flowers are white to cream-colored and later produce clusters of purple to black berries.
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Did you know?

The flowers develop into blue berries which are an important source of food for birds and mammals. The blue berries were also dried and preserved for eating by Native Americans, and used by the early California immigrants to make jam and wine.
DISTRIBUTION IN TH U.S.
Alabama , Arkansas , Arizona , California , Colorado , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Iowa , Idaho , Illinois , Indiana , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Mississippi , Montana , North Carolina , North Dakota , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New Mexico , Nevada , New York , Ohio , Oklahoma , Oregon , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Virginia , Vermont , Washington , Wisconsin , West Virginia , Wyoming
HABITAT
Common, particularly in stream banks, riverside woodlands, and in open areas in the forest understory. Although elderberry’s preferred habitats are the bottoms of canyons where water persists longest during the summer, it is also often found on dry hillsides.
ATTRIBUTES
Leaves
Pinnately compound (the leaflets are arranged on a central axis in what appear to be opposite pairs) with 3 to 9 leaflets per leaf; the leaflets are oval to elliptical, smooth-surface or hairy, with a highly pointed tip and often with an asymmetrical base. The margins of the leaflets are toothed (serrated). The leaves are deciduous.
Flowers
Flowers are white or cream colored, small, and borne in terminal clusters (4 to 33 cm in diameter) that bear dozens to hundreds of flowers. The flower is radially symmetrical and 5-lobed.
Fruits
Elderberry fruits are purple to black berries just under 0.25 in (0.64 cm) in diameter that are found in large clusters on the branches.
Bark
The bark of mature trees is dark and rough.
Bloom Time
Flowers from May to September

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