Northern Ontario Plant Database

Plant Description

Sambucus racemosa L.

En: red elderberry, red-berried elder, scarlet elderberry
Fr: sureau à grappes, sureau rouge, sureau pubescent

Adoxaceae (Viburnum Family)

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General: A tall, deciduous shrub, to 4 m tall. Bark grayish-brown, with large warty lenticels; young twigs stout, downy, becoming smooth with age (glabrate); pith large, reddish brown. Flowers and leaves with a strong unpleasant odour, especially when bruised.

Leaves: Opposite, pinnately compound, with 5–7 (usually 5) leaflets, petiolate. Lateral leaflets short-stalked, terminal leaflet with a longer stalk. Leaflet blades lanceolate-ovate to oblanceolate, 5–13 cm long, 2.5–5.5 cm wide; dark green above and paler beneath, smooth (glabrous) on both surfaces or downy beneath; bases tapering (cuneate) to rounded, lateral leaflets with oblique bases – the blade longer on the lower side of the midrib; apex long-pointed (acuminate); margins toothed (serrate).

Flowers: Bisexual, white to pinkish, small and numerous in a terminal, elongate, rounded to pyramid-shaped cluster (compound cyme), 5–13 cm long, stalked, with purplish flower stalks (pedicels). Calyx minute; corolla with 5 rounded lobes; stamens 5; the single pistil with an inferior ovary. Flowers bloom in late spring to early summer.

Fruit: Small, iridescent red, berry-like drupes (rarely yellow or white), 4–6 mm long; inedible and possibly toxic to some when raw, edible when cooked. Fruits mature in late summer.

Habitat and Range: Roadsides, shores, borders of woods, clearings, and fence rows. The red elderberry is native to north temperate and boreal North America. In Ontario, it extends north to about 50° N, and farther north along the Moose River (Soper & Heimburger 1982).

Similar Species: Sambucus canadensis, common or American elderberry, is similar to red elderberry, but the common elderberry can be easily distinguished by its flat-topped inflorescence, edible purple-black fruits, more numerous leaflets (5–11), and white-pithed stems. Its flowers bloom 5–6 weeks later than those of the red elderberry. See the Sambucus canadensis webpage from the Wildflowers of Illinois website.

Compare the webpages of Sambucus racemosa subsp. pubens and Sambucus canadensis from the Virginia Tech Dendrology website.