Howdy We have a bit of a mystery Sambucus. It was found on the mountains along a logging road on Vancouver Island (below Courtenay/Comox). The red elderberry have long been taken by birds and only now are the blue elderberry ripening....then there is this beastie! Does any kind soul know what flavour of Sambucus this is? Berries are 4 mm wide. I do appologize for the sample's wilted condition....its bone dry here and it drooped severely in the heat. I'll try to rehydrate it in the sink overnight so the leaves can be better viewed. Thank you! ~Hamie
What a lovely shrub. Sambucus pubens Xanthocarpa is listed. in WJ Beans "Trees and Shrubs" and in Micheal Dirrs "Manual of Woody Plants" which has yellow berries and is found in North Canada down to Colorado. However I cannot find any more info on it. http://www.jstor.org/pss/2992793 http://www.bioversityinternational....pendium/Speciesfullrecord.asp?IDSpecies=20328
I have seen the local species producing red, purple, orange and yellow fruits. Some places have numbers of purple-fruited ones. Perhaps the most sensational one was a small specimen bearing canary yellow fruits with contrasting purple stems and fruit tips at a house right up the street from me. After I got permission for cuttings and gave them (and seeds) to a grower (no takes on the cuttings, resulting seedlings produced red fruits) the plant disappeared. I think the occupant destroyed it, so as not to be bothered again. A similarly colored one to the specimen shown here is visible along the highway near the north end of Vashon Island, southwest of Seattle. Propagation attempts are being made.
