''Sambucus cerulea'' or ''Sambucus nigra'' subsp. ''cerulea'', with the common names blue elderberry and blue elder, is a coarse textured

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

species of elder in the family

Adoxaceae Adoxaceae, commonly known as moschatel family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Dipsacales, now consisting of five genera and about 150–200 species. They are characterised by opposite toothed leaves, small five- or, more rar ...

Description

''Sambucus cerulea'' is a large,

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub grow to in height and width. It normally grows rather wildly from several stems, which can be heavily pruned (or even cut to the ground) during winter dormancy. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are pinnately divided into 5–9 leaflets. These are commonly long and wide. They are elliptical to

lanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

, sharp-toothed and hairless. The blade extends unequally on the stalk at the base. The white or creamy coloured flowers, occurring May to June, are numerous and form a flat-topped cluster usually about wide. They are

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

-shaped, normally with 4 to 5 rays extending from the base. The flowers have a strong, unpleasant odor. Individual flowers are wide. The fruits given are berry-like

drupes In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a s ...

. They are juicy, round, and approximately 4–6 mm in diameter. They are bluish-black, with a

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), ...

powder coating lending them a light blue colour (and helping distinguish them from other elderberries). The fruit contains 3 to 5 small seed-like stones, each enclosing a single seed.

Taxonomy

The plant is classified by several different

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

s. Both the current

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

database and '' The Jepson Manual'' of California flora (2013) classify it as ''S. nigra'' subsp. ''cerulea''. The Sunset Western Garden Book identifies the plant as '' Sambucus mexicana'', and note use of ''S. caerulea'' also. The botanist Victor King Chesnut (1867–1938) had classified it as ''S. glauca'' in 1902, when studying the plants used by the

Indigenous peoples of California Indigenous peoples of California, commonly known as Indigenous Californians or Native Californians, are a diverse group of nations and peoples that are indigenous to the geographic area within the current boundaries of California before and afte ...

in Mendocino County.

Distribution and habitat

''S. cerulea'' is native to the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

, northwestern Mexico, and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. It is found from the Pacific coasts, through

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and the

Great Basin The Great Basin () is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets to the ocean, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja Californi ...

, to

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

. This species grows at elevations below , in diverse

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s of mountains and hills, valleys, riparian zones, open places in woodlands and forests, and exposed slopes where moisture is reachable.

Toxicity

The raw berries contain a toxin which, if eaten raw, may induce nausea in some people.

Uses

The flower blossoms can be used to make tea. The fruits can be eaten raw (despite containing a toxin), dried, or as jelly.

Native American

The

indigenous peoples of North America In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

with the plant in their homelands use the leaves, blossoms, bark, roots, and wood for preparing traditional medicinal remedies, taken internally or applied externally. The fresh, dried, and cooked berries are used for food. Some tribes used the wood to make musical instruments, such as flutes, clappers, and small whistles; and smoking implements. Soft wood was used as a spindle "twirling stick" to make fire by friction. The bark was used to produce a remedy for fever. Stems and berries were used as a dye for

basket weaving Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...

materials. The Concow tribe of the Mendocino region calls the plant nō-kōm-hē-i′-nē in the Konkow language.

Cultivation

''S. nigra'' subsp. ''cerulea'' is cultivated as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

plant nurseries A nursery is a place where plants are propagated and grown to a desired size. Mostly the plants concerned are for gardening, forestry, or conservation biology, rather than agriculture. They include retail nurseries, which sell to the general ...

, for planting in traditional,

native plant In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often popularised as "with no human intervention") during history. The term is equi ...

, and

habitat garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater to native and local plan ...

s. It is also used for

natural landscaping Natural landscaping, also called native gardening, is the use of native plants including trees, shrubs, groundcover, and grasses which are local to the geographic area of the garden. Benefits Maintenance Natural landscaping is adapted to t ...

and

habitat restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

projects. It can become a multi-trunk tree when trained from youth with only several dominant trunks. The plant is beneficial in

wildlife garden A wildlife garden (or habitat garden or backyard restoration) is an Biophysical environment, environment created with the purpose to serve as a sustainable haven for surrounding wildlife. Wildlife gardens contain a variety of habitats that cater t ...

s, its flowers attract pollinators, butterflies and hummingbirds, and its berries feed other bird species and chipmunks.

Footnotes

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control cerulea Berries Bird food plants Butterfly food plants Drought-tolerant plants Garden plants of North America Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Northwestern Mexico Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of British Columbia Flora of California Flora of New Mexico Flora of the Cascade Range Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Flora without expected TNC conservation status