Alternate name: Red Elder, Pacific Red Elderberry, Coast Red Elder
Family: Caprifoliaceae, Honeysuckle view all from this family
Description Clump-forming shrub or sometimes small tree with many small, white flowers in concave or pyramidal clusters and bright red berries; flowers and crushed foliage have unpleasant odor.
Height: 20' (6 m).
Diameter: 6" (15 cm).
Leaves: opposite; pinnately compound; 5-10" (13-25 cm) long; with unpleasant odor; 5 or 7 leaflets 2-5" (5-13 cm) long, 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide; paired except at end, lance-shaped or elliptical, finely and sharply saw-toothed. Green and nearly hairless above, paler and hairy beneath.
Bark: light to dark gray or brown; smooth, becoming fissured into small, scaly or shaggy plates.
Twigs: gray, stout, hairy when young; with ringed nodes and thick, whitish pith becoming yellow-orange or brown.
Flowers: 1/4" (6 mm) wide; with white, 5-lobed corolla; in upright, much-branched clusters to 4" (10 cm) long; in spring and early summer.
Fruit: 5/16" (8 mm) in diameter; a round berry, bright red or sometimes orange, juicy, with 1-seeded, poisonous nutlets; maturing in summer.
Warning All species of elderberries that grow in North America are potentially poisonous if plant parts are ingested. The seeds of this subspecies are considered poisonous, causing diarrhea and vomiting. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.
Habitat Moist soils in rich woods and clearings, such as cutover coniferous forests.
Range Alaska east to Newfoundland, south to Georgia, and northwest to Tennessee, Missouri, and South Dakota; also throughout West south to California, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Discussion The red fruit, inedible when raw and with a disagreeably bitter taste, can be made into wine and is also eaten by birds and mammals. There is much disagreement in the literature over the classification of Sambucus species. Several former species are now considered part of the subspecies Sambucus racemosa var. racemosa, including S. callicarpa and S. pubens.
