Plant Family: Adoxaceae
Growth Form: Shrub to 5 meters in height.
Leaves: Opposite, usually once-compound, sometimes twice-compound, with 5 – 7 elliptic, toothed leaflets.
Bark: Brown to gray, with knobby lenticels on younger branches, furrowed on older trunks, pith of branches is light brown.
Flowers: White, with 5 petals, individually small, but held in large clusters at the branch ends; May to July.
Fruits: Red drupes in conical clusters that ripen by late summer.
Habitat: Woodland openings, rocky slopes.
Range: More common in northern New England, becoming less common to the south, ranging west to Minnesota and south in upland habitats to northern Georgia.
Similar Species: Common Elderberry has flat-topped flower clusters, purple-black fruits, and the pith of the branches is white.
Comments: The fruits are eaten by birds and mammals, but unlike Common Elderberry, they are not palatable to humans.
