A hedgerow shrub with big flat plates of creamy, heavily scented flowers from late May, whose stems have a soft white pith
Elder — Sambucus nigra.
Nature · Trees
Elder
Native · deciduous, to 15 m · flowers late May–June · hedges, scrub, wasteland and woods
Sambucus nigra — Adoxaceae
Elder is the untidy, fast-growing shrub or small tree of hedgerows, waste ground and woodland edges, with flat plates of creamy scented flowers in early summer and heavy clusters of purple-black berries in autumn. It has a long folklore as a tree of the Devil and Judas, and is a foraging staple for elderflower cordial and elderberry wine. Uncooked berries and other parts are poisonous.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Pinnate leaves with five to seven toothed leaflets in opposite pairs, unpleasant smelling when bruised
- ▸Flat-topped umbels 10–30 cm across of creamy, highly scented five-petalled flowers
- ▸Grey-brown corky, deeply furrowed bark
- ▸Hollow or white-pithed green twigs; ragged buds
- ▸Drooping clusters of small purple-black berries in late summer
How to know it
Its flowers make cordial, wine and fritters, and its cooked berries make preserves; raw berries are poisonous
Elder.
Tradition held that Judas hanged himself from it, and burning its wood would let you see the Devil
Elder — also called the Judas tree.
Its name is thought to come from the Anglo-Saxon for fire, because hollow stems were used as bellows
Elder.
A leaf of five to seven leaflets in opposite pairs, distinguishing it from walnut, whose leaflets alternate
Elder.
Dyes from its berries, leaves and bark were used for Harris Tweed; seeds are spread by badgers and rabbits near their warrens
Elder.
Quick-fire facts
- •Sambucus nigra: nigra means black, for the berries
- •Woodland Trust: name may come from Anglo-Saxon aeld, meaning fire, since hollow stems were used as bellows
- •Known as the Judas tree because Judas Iscariot is said to have hanged himself from one
- •Burning elder wood was said to show you the Devil; planting one by the house kept the Devil away
- •Flowers and cooked berries are edible; uncooked berries and other parts of the genus are poisonous
- •Flowers used for wine, cordial, tea and fritters; berries for preserves and wine
- •Elder gives blue, purple, yellow, green, grey and black dyes
- •Often found near rabbit warrens and badger setts where animals distribute the seed
- •Elder leaves are opposite, walnut leaves alternate (Woodland Trust)
Drill it — 7 cards
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Sources
- Woodland Trust — Elder (Sambucus nigra)