OUR MISSION: ACER supports communities, government agencies and corporations in taking action to reduce biodiversity loss and strengthen climate resilience by increasing and monitoring urban and riparian zone forest canopy.

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).