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Trees or Shrubs: Common Elderberry

Latin Name: Sambucus canadensis L.

General Description: Very small trees or large shrubs of eastern Canada.

Leaves: 5-11 leaflets, last leaflet often largest, leaflets 5-15 cm long, sharply toothed, short-stalked.

common elderberry leaves and stem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twigs: Pith white.

Fruit: Purplish-black, mature in fall, edible.

common elderberry fruit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers: white, grow in broad flat clusters, appear in midsummer after leaves have appeared.

Sources used: Trees in Canada by John Laird Farrar (1995).