# Elderberry?



## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

I'm thinking I have some Elderberry out back, but wish to get some "second" opinions. What do you think? TIA, Reese


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

Yep, you got it!


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

Thanks, that's what I thought!! It has been such a joy to discover all the things we have back there that are useful.


Reese


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## ajaxlucy (Jul 18, 2004)

Lucky you! I think I want some, too. Does anyone know if they will they grow from seed?


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

Looks like the birds know you got um too.Yep,they will spread by seed.


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## HomesteadBaker (Feb 8, 2006)

Sure looks like it to me! Lucky you.... my Mother's favorite is elderberry pie, my Grandfather preferred elderberry wine! LOL

Kitty


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

LOL, Backwoods...yes, they've been very happy harvesting the excess blackberries/blackraspberries/wineberries...and now elderberries. We don't lack the wildlife out back, that's for sure. Even the deer are happy back there with so much to brows around on. 

Kitty, I didn't realize there were so many different things to do with elderberry. I just use it for a cold care syrup due to the high vit. c content. I think I may have enough to put away for baking as well as some syrup. 

I truly feel blessed here, just as I get so disgusted with the neglect the previous owners did to the home and property, I reminde myself that if they didn't I wouldn't have so much food to harvest out back. 

Reese


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

is everyone sure that's elderberry? it doesn't look like the fruit clusters are "dense" enough, if that makes sense. the elderberry i am familiar with doesn't have those long stems either. :shrug:


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

marvella said:


> is everyone sure that's elderberry? it doesn't look like the fruit clusters are "dense" enough, if that makes sense. the elderberry i am familiar with doesn't have those long stems either. :shrug:



The fruit isn't so "dense" because the birds have been at them. There are some that are very full of berries and heavily haning "face down". The stems to the berries are just like what I've seen before, but it's been a very long time so I wanted confirmation... but now I'm starting to worry?

Reese :shrug:


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## marvella (Oct 12, 2003)

reese said:


> The fruit isn't so "dense" because the birds have been at them. There are some that are very full of berries and heavily haning "face down". The stems to the berries are just like what I've seen before, but it's been a very long time so I wanted confirmation... but now I'm starting to worry?
> 
> Reese :shrug:


well, don't worry on account of me... it makes sense if the birds had been at them.


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## pixelphotograph (Apr 8, 2007)

mmmm elderberry jam I love I have planted 3 plants on the edge of our woods that are growing nicely hopefully I get berries next year.


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## goatsareus (Jun 23, 2007)

the plant pictured is not what I was raised to call elderberry. What I call elderberry has flowers/fruit in an umbrel, like queen annes lace.


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## DianeWV (Feb 1, 2007)

Oh those wonderful elderberries. I pick elderberries every year to make jelly. I always strain out the tiny seeds. I then use the pure juice to make jelly. Elderberry jelly and blackberry jelly (I always strain out seeds out of both) are my favorite jelly.

Some will confuse elderberries from a poke berry(that's what they are called around here). You want to avoid the poke berry.

Now, the elderberry has a white bloom. For me, what I do to determine if it is an elderberry is to look at the MAIN STEM of the plant. The main stem will be WOODY and pretty smooth. If the main stem of the plant is WOODY then you have an elderberry not a poke berry. The poke berry that you want to avoid, has a purple/green smooth stock. 

From the picture, it looks like elderberry. Check out that main stem. 

There are other ways to identify from the leaves to the clustering of the berries,etc. I find that pretty confusing (I can be confused easily ) So, I always look for that woody stem. That's the easiest way to identify for me. take care.


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## reese (Jul 6, 2004)

I know poke weed right well, have that as well and this is not it. 

I actually thought these were young off shoots of Sumac (not the poison kind) since we have a ton of those as well. The flowers were the "umbrells" this spring, and I didn't really think about them since I thought of them as sumac. Well now the sumac is going to berry along with this grouping of small trees, and they were not sumac berries. It took me a moment to think back on what they could be. 

I continue to be in awe what we have around here. No wonder the birds are so sing-songy, all the free range food we have to offer. 

Reese


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Looks just like my elderberries. I you can beat the bird to them they make the best jelly..People around here make fritters of the flowers..never tried one myself??


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

check the main woody stems..smooth should be elderberry but thorney is devil's walking stick and those berries are not edible..it also grows taller than elderberry but has the same flat black fruited clusters of berries...


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## HomesteadBaker (Feb 8, 2006)

It is _smbucus *****_ that is the best medicinally of the elderberry family. _S *****_ is the purplish-black elderberry, there are also blue and red elderberries which, as far as I know, are not used for medicinal purposes

http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/10/1/51.pdf

Kitty


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## homegrownlovin (Jun 18, 2007)

HomesteadBaker said:


> It is _smbucus *****_ that is the best medicinally of the elderberry family.
> 
> Maybe, I was thinking _S. canadensis_. It looks like the one we have here in Texas. However _S. pubens _ [red fruited] is poisonous and _S. callicarpa _ is considered bitter, but not poisonous. The rest are all used in jam, jellies, pies, wines, fritters [flowers], pancakes, breads, and as a juice..... even the blue fruited _S. cerulea._


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Ernie's tips for eating new and dubiously identified plants:

Eat only a small amount at first. Even if it isn't poisonous, you could have an allergic reaction. Take a sample of the leaves and fruit and put it in a small container and store it in the fridge and give instructions to family members that, upon any reaction, give that to the paramedics so the emergency room doctors will know what you ingested. Upon your first sampling, never give any to children or someone with existing health problems. 

That said, enjoy!


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## lsulenes (Dec 19, 2006)

Definitely looks like the things that we have growing profusely around here. In my area of Kansas, these grow wild on almost every back road where there is any kind of drainage, ditch, or slough that will keep them moist through most of the early growth time. Different areas produce different size berries so I assume there is some difference in variety or some cross-breeding that has gone on through nature. The other reason I think this might be true is that there is such a difference in when certain stands ripen compared to others. I haven't tested that theory by transplanting from each area to one specific area to see, but I am generally able to pick elderberry from mid/late July all the way into Sept. 

The thing is around here, we pray they ripen fast or we have to race the county road crew to get to the berries before they come along and mow them off when trimming back the ditches. This year, we flooded so bad June 30th that they have been more occupied with restoring roads that were wiped out and most of the crop has been pretty safe. So far they haven't come along and mowed any off.


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