red elderberry

not listed

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

not listed

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

FACU - Facultative upland

Red elderberry is a fast growing shrub rising on multiple stems from shallow roots and rhizomes.

The stems are erect or arching, branching, hairless, up to 13′ tall, and up to 4¾″ in diameter at breast height. They are dotted with conspicuous, large, raised, warty bumps (lenticels).

The bark on first year stems is gray and smooth. Bark on older stems is gray to reddish-brown and rough with thin, narrow, plate-like scales.

The twigs are stout. The area of cells in the center of the stem (pith) is large, encompassing more than half of the diameter of the twig. First-year twigs greenish-brown and covered with short, soft hairs. Second-year twigs are grayish to brownish and hairless. The pith is white in first-year twigs, tan or orangish-brown in second-year twigs. There are no terminal buds.

The leaves are opposite, deciduous, and pinnately divided into usually 5, occasionally 7, leaflets. They are attached to the twig on a 1¼″ to 2¾″ long leaf stalk. The leaf stalk is hairy on all surfaces.

The leaflets are lance-shaped to egg-shaped or elliptic, 2″ to 4¾″ long, and ¾″ to 2″ wide. They are attached to the central leaf stalk (rachis) on ⅛″ to ⅝″ long stalks. They are rounded or tapered and asymmetrical at the base and taper to a point at the tip with concave sides along the tip. The terminal leaflet is often somewhat smaller than the lateral leaflets. The upper surface of the leaflet is dark green, and sparsely hairy, at least along the midvein. The lower surface is pale green and hairy along the veins. The margins have fine, sharp, forward-pointing teeth.

The inflorescence is a branched, 1¼″ to 3⅛″ wide cluster (cyme) at the ends of the stems and branches. The cymes are pyramid-shaped or egg-shaped. They rise on erect, ¾″ to 3½″ long stalks. Each cyme has 100 to 200 small flowers.

The flowers are ⅛″ to ¼″ wide. There are 5 yellowish-white petals and 5 stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers. They appear in late April to early June.

The fruit is a juicy, globular berry, ⅛″ to ¼″ in diameter, containing 3 to 5 seeds. It ripens in mid-June to late July, turning bright red.

5′ to 13′

Yellowish-white

Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) has undivided (simple), hairless leaves. The inflorescence is dome-shaped.

American elderberry (Sambucus nigra var. canadensis) second year twigs have white pith. The leaves usually have 7 leaflets, occasionally 5 or 9. The leaf stalk upper surface channel is hairy but the leaf stalk is otherwise hairless. The leaflets are symmetrical at the base and are less coarsely toothed. The inflorescence is larger and flat-topped. It blooms from early July to mid-August. Mature berries are dark, blackish-purple.

Moist to moderate moisture. Deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests, swamps, marsh edges, stream banks, lake shores. Full sun to full shade.

Late April to early June

The fruit is safe to eat when cooked. The raw fruit, the seeds, and all other parts of the plant are poisonous, and can be lethal at high doses.

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

Common

Species
Some authors treat this as a Sambucus nigra ssp. canadensis, a subspecies of black elderberry.

Family
There is some disagreement about the correct placement of the genera Sambucus and Viburnum. They were formerly included in the family Caprifoliaceae. In 2003, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group proposed moving them to the Adoxacea family (APG II), but the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants approved the conservation of Viburnaceae. In 2016, Angiosperm Phylogeny Group proposed to “super-conserve” Adoxacea (APG IV), but the General Committee for Botanical Nomenclature rejected the proposal.

Currently (2023), some sources, including USDA PLANTS and NatureServe, place the genera Sambucus and Viburnum in the Caprifoliaceae family. Some sources, including ITIS and NCBI, place them in the Adoxacea family. Almost all other sources, including APG IV, World Flora Online, Plants of the World Online, GRIN, GBIF, and iNaturalist, place the two genera in the Viburnaceae family.

Plant

Inflorescence

Twig

Leaves – 5 Leaflets

Leaves – 7 Leaflets

Infructescence

Bud in Early Spring

Location: Zimmerman, MN (Sherburne County)