Sambucus racemosa – Red Elderberry – Adoxaceae (The Viburnum Family)

Description Sambucus racemosa is our BC native red elderberry, an attractive, medium-sized, fast-growing shrub 7-13 feet tall and wide that can spread by root suckers to form colonies. It has fragrant, cone-shaped panicles of creamy white flowers from pink buds that emerge in late spring to early summer followed by clusters of bright red berry-like fruits in late summer that persist into fall. The fruits are edible once cooked to make wine, jelly, and pies. They should not be eaten raw. Use in the native or open woodland gardens, for habitat restoration, as a specimen plant, for informal screens and hedges, or near ponds and streams. Attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and various bird species. It is a larval host for many species of butterfly and moth. Native to much of North America and Eurasia. Our West Coast variety is arborescens.