Sambucus nigra L.
elder
Shrub or small tree to c. 6 m high. Stems grey, strongly lenticellate; vegetative shoots with thick white pith. Leaflets (3)-5-7, dark purple when very young, soon green. Petiole to c. 7 cm long on flowering branches, ± hairy. Petiolules hairy; lateral petiolules < 1 cm long; terminal petiolule > 1 cm long. Lamina of terminal leaflet 4.5-11-(13) × 3.5-6-(7) cm, broad-elliptic to broad-ovate, glabrous, or ± hairy on veins beneath and on midrib above, serrate except towards base; apex acute to cuspidate. Lamina of lateral leaflets smaller and narrower. Infl. a large flat corymb, mostly 10-20 cm across, glabrous or nearly so, with slender peduncles and pedicels which usually become red or purple at fruiting, or occasionally remain green. Fls foetid. Calyx 0.5 mm long. Corolla white; lobes 2.5-3 mm long, broad-elliptic. Stamens < corolla. Fr. 4-8.5 mm diam., globose or subglobose, usually shining black, occasionally green. Pyrenes c. 3 mm long, ovoid-oblong, rugose.
N.: from Auckland to Wellington, but uncommon north of the Volcanic Plateau; S.: very common in many parts of Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago and Southland; St.
Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa 1867
Waste places, hedgerows, roadsides, scrub, forest margins and in most other modified plant communities.
FL Nov-Jan.
Stock have been occasionally poisoned by eating elder (Connor 1977) but the ripe frs have long been used for making wine and jelly.
The frs of elder are spread by birds, and the large clusters of black drupes are characteristic in late summer and early autumn. There is little variation in the wild except that some plants have green infl. branches and green ripe frs and can be referred to cv. 'Viridis', also known as var. viridis.
