How to Identify an Elderberry Bush

Elderberry features a compound leaf composed of multiple leaflets.

Making preserves, wines, jellies and pies are all possible when you harvest the fruit of elderberries. These large shrubs or small trees grow throughout much of the eastern United States, with a preference for moist sites such as near streams and on riverbanks. Elderberry is easily recognizable, with distinct foliage, flowers, fruits and form.

Instructions

1. Identify an elderberry by its form and size. The elderberry can be as short as 5 feet high or grow to small tree status, attaining heights of 20 feet. Look for a multiple-stemmed plant that features arching branches and a rounded broad crown. If you take a twig from an elderberry and break it apart, you'll notice that it has thick whitish-gray pith within it.

2. Examine elderberry foliage, looking for compound leaves featuring from five to 11 leaflets. The leaves have a central axis that grows out from the branches. The individual leaflets grow off this large yellowish-green axis. The majority of the time, the compound leaf has seven leaflets.

3. Study the leaflets growing on an elderberry leaf, looking for features such as shape, length and color. The leaflets are a shiny dark green shade, slightly paler on their undersides and can be as long as 6 inches. Most will be elliptical in nature or have a shape like a lance. Crush the leaflets between your fingers and smell it; a rank and acrid odor greets your senses, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences website.

4. Inspect the flowers that grow in clusters on elderberry in July. The flower clusters, known as inflorescences, have a width of from 6 inches to a foot. The clusters have a flattened top, are white and give off a fragrant smell. The individual blooms will be about ¼ inch wide, and they do not stay on the elderberry bush for long.

5. Look at the purple-black fruit of the elderberry when it ripens by late summer or early parts of fall. The fruit resembles a small berry, with a ¼ inch width. They hang down from the branches of the elderberry in drooping clusters. Birds including catbirds and mockingbirds make quick work of the tasty fruits; white-tailed deer also eat the leaves and twigs.

6. Observe the color of the bark on the elderberry bush and tree. The immature bark is grayish and/or reddish brown with a smooth texture. As the elderberry grows and achieves tree form, the bark takes on a rough feel and it becomes covered with fissures.

References

• University Of Florida Institute Of Food And Agricultural Sciences: Elderberry
• "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Trees:Eastern Region"; Elbert Little; 1980 (pages 669-670)