http://www.durgan.org/URL/?EVUYT 30 June 2013 Is this an Elderberry Bush? I utilize elderberries for making juice when the berries are ripe in September.The bushes are in bloom now and the cluster of bushes are easy to identify, so I drive around mentally marking them on the back roads.The bushes with berries are difficult to see when ripe since they blend into the background readily. I am told by some natives that these are elderberry bushes. These I have not encountered previously over the last four years. The flowers are small and clustered together, but the leaves look like the type of which I am familiar. I would like identification and is they are similar to the type shown below of which I am familiar. Here is the type that I have been using for juice over the last four years.Very large berry flower clusters and readily identifiable. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?LWCAL 30 June 2013 Elderberry Bush. (Sambucus canadensis)
Elders produce divided leaves, with multiple leaflets arranged around a central stalk, in the manner of an ash tree or a box-elder maple (hence box-elder).
Flower parts in fours (fives for Sambucus). No foetid smell (foetid leaves, stems and roots in elder). No marginal teeth (toothed in Sambucus). Note also the "eucamptodromous" leaf venation, which is characteristic of Cornus, where the pinnate secondary veins run in arcs roughly parallel to the outer margin, gradually diminishing inside the margin and never looping back (as in elder). The tertiary veins are typically perpendicular, connecting the adjacent secondaries.
After seeing the replies, I went out and took another look at the berries I use. The small clustered ones I will take a pass, but I see they often grow near the ones I use. The Sambucus canadensis is easy to identify accurately in my area. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?NREJG 1 July 2013 Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) Identification Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is relatively common in my area, growing along side roads. The large, palm size flowers are easy to spot, and I mark them for future picking of the berries during the first week of September.The bushes with berries when ripe fade into the background vegetation and are difficult to see. The berries must be very dark almost black for consumption. Never eat any red berries. Be sure of your identification. The saw tooth leaves, and flat plane flowers, and almost palm size flowers are are easy to identify.I make juice from the berries usually around 60 litres if I can get enough berries.Two pounds of berries are required to make one litre of juice. http://www.durgan.org/URL/?TPVRN 26 August 2012 Elderberry Juice
