Sambucus racemosa

Plant Characteristics

Habit		shrub
Height:	⇕	12 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
Width:	⇔	12 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 12.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Bloom:	❀	early spring, mid spring, late spring, early summer, mid summer, late summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Features:	✓	deciduous, flowers
USDA Zones:		4 to 9
Flower features:	❀	white

Scientific Names

Caprifoliaceae >

Sambucus >

racemosa >

Sambucus racemosa is a species of elderberry known by the common name red elderberry. It is native to Europe, temperate Asia, and the northern half of North America. It grows in riparian environments, woodlands, and other habitat, generally in moist areas. This often treelike shrub grows 2 to 6 meters tall. The stems are soft with a pithy center. Each individual leaf is composed of 5 to 7 leaflike leaflets, each of which is up to 16 centimeters long, lance-shaped to narrowly oval, and irregularly serrated along the edges. The leaflets have a strong disagreeable odor when crushed. The inflorescence is a vaguely cone-shaped panicle of several cymes of flowers blooming from the ends of stem branches. The flower buds are pink when closed, and the open flowers are white, cream, or yellowish. Each flower has small, recurved petals and a star-shaped axis of five white stamens tipped in yellow anthers. The flowers are fragrant and visited by hummingbirds and butterflies. The fruit is a bright red or sometimes purple drupe containing 3 to 5 seeds. The fruits are popular with birds, who distribute the seeds.

Many parts of this plant are poisonous, and have been used as a traditional emetic. The fruits are reportedly safe to eat when cooked, and were savored by the Gitxsan in a variety of recipes.

Read about Sambucus racemosa in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Sambucus racemosa, Linn. Red-berried Elder. Shrub, to 12 ft.: branches light brown; young branchlets glabrous or nearly so, 2-3 1/2 in. long: infl. ovate or oblong, dense: lfts. 5-7, ovate or elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, 2-3 in. long: fls. yellowish white: fr. scarlet, 1/4 in. across, 3-seeded; nutlets yellowish white, minutely rugose. April, May; fr. in June, July. Eu. to E. Asia. Var. nana, Carr. Dwarf compact form. Var. plumosa, Carr. Lfts. incisely serrate to about the middle, teeth long and narrow, purplish when unfolding. Var. plumoso-aurea Weezelenburg (var. serratifolia aurea, Barbier). Foliage like that of the preceding form, but golden yellow. Var. ornata, Carr. (var. pteridifolia, Carr.). The first lvs. of the shoot are like those of var. plumosa, the later ones more finely dissected like var. laciniata. Var. laciniata, W. Koch (var. serratifolia, Hort.). Lfts. regularly and deeply dissected, green when unfolding.Var. tenuifolia, Carr. Lvs. finely and deeply dissected with very narrow segms., purplish when unfolding. Var. purpurea, Sweet (S. rosiflora, Carr.). Fls. purplish or pink outside, purple in bud. Var. flavescens, Sweet (var. xanthocarpa, Zabel). Fr. yellow with orange cheek. — This species, like the following, is not conspicuous in bloom, but the clusters of scarlet fr. are very attractive in June and July. The cut-leaved forms are very graceful. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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