Sambucus ebulus

What to Eat

Edible parts: Fruit, Flowers

The fruit, which is about 6mm in diameter and borne in large clusters, can be cooked and used as a flavouring in soups and similar dishes. Some caution is advised regarding toxicity. The leaves can be used as a tea substitute, though caution is also advised here regarding toxicity.

Known Hazards

Dangerous Lookalikes

This plant can be confused with the following toxic species. Always verify identification carefully before consuming any wild plant.

VERY TOXIC

Pokeweed

Phytolacca americana

SAFE

Dwarf elder

Sambucus ebulus

Pokeweed: Thick red/purple herbaceous stems (no bark), berries in a line (raceme), simple large leaves, large white taproot.

Dwarf elder: Woody bark, berries in broad flat clusters (cymes), compound leaves with 5-7 leaflets.

Where to Find It

It grows in temperate and Mediterranean regions. It suits hardiness zones 5-10.

Africa, Andorra, Armenia, Asia, Australia, Balkans, Belgium, Bosnia, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Caucasus, Cyprus, Eurasia, Europe, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Luxembourg, Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa, North America, Northeastern India, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, Türkiye,

How to Identify

A shrub. It forms suckers. It grows 1.5-2 m high and spreads 0.9-2 m wide. The leaves are divided and there are up to 9 leaflets 15 cm long. The flowers are small. They are in flat heads 10 cm across. The fruit are black berries. They are 6-7 mm across and shiny when ripe.

How to Grow

Tolerates most soils, including chalk, but prefers a moist loamy soil. Grows well in heavy clay soils. Tolerates some shade but is best in a sunny position. Tolerates atmospheric pollution and coastal situations. A very invasive plant, sending up new shoots a metre or more away. It can be used for naturalising in the rougher parts of the garden, growing well on rough banks etc. The whole plant, when bruised, emits a most unpleasant fur-like smell. The bark, in particular, smells like stale perspiration.

Propagation: Seed is best sown as soon as ripe in autumn in a cold frame, where it should germinate in early spring. Stored seed sown in spring will germinate more reliably after 2 months of warm followed by 2 months of cold stratification. Prick seedlings into individual pots when large enough; if growth is strong, plant out in early summer, otherwise hold in a sheltered nursery bed or pots and plant out the following spring. Division of suckers in spring or autumn is very easy.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are antiphlogistic, cholagogue, diaphoretic, diuretic, expectorant, and laxative. The fruit is also used medicinally, though it is less active than the leaves. The herb is commonly employed in treating liver and kidney complaints. When bruised and applied to boils and scalds, the leaves have a healing effect; they can also be made into a poultice for swellings and contusions. Leaves are harvested in summer and may be dried for later use. The root is diaphoretic, mildly diuretic, and a drastic purgative; dried, powdered, and brewed as a tea, it is considered one of the best remedies for dropsy, though it should only be used under expert supervision as it can cause nausea and vertigo. A homeopathic remedy made from the fresh berries or bark is used to treat dropsy.

Other Uses

A blue dye and an ink are obtained from the fruit. Root juice is used to dye hair black. The leaves are said to repel mice and moles. Plants spaced about 1 metre apart each way can form a dense ground cover suited to large areas and roadsides, though experience to 1995 indicated that while plants spread vigorously, they do not form a sufficiently dense cover to exclude other plants.

Sambucus ebulus, also known as danewort, dane weed, danesblood, dwarf elder or European dwarf elder, walewort, dwarf elderberry, elderwort and blood hilder, is a herbaceous species of elder, native to southern and central Europe and southwest Asia. The species is a well-established archaeophyte in much of the UK, and is also reportedly naturalized in parts of North America (New York, New Jersey and Québec).

Notes

There are about 25 Sambucus species. Also put in the family Sambucaceae.

More from Adoxaceae

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Sambucus australasica

Yellow elderberry

Sambucus callicarpa

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Sambucus cerulea

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Sambucus gaudichaudiana

White elderberry, Native elder

Sambucus glauca

Blue-berried elder