Plant Family: Adoxaceae
Growth Form: Shrub to small tree up to 4 meters high, often forming tall thickets.
Leaves: Opposite, usually once-compound, sometimes twice-compound, with 5 – 9 elliptic, toothed leaflets.
Bark: Brown to gray, with knobby white lenticels on younger branches, furrowed on older trunks, pith of stems is white.
Flowers: White, with 5 petals, individually small, but held in large rounded or flat-topped, showy clusters at the branch ends; June to July.
Fruits: Purple-black drupes in heavy clusters; August into September.
Habitat: Along streams, damp wood edges, and other lowland habitats.
Range: Common throughout New England and all of the eastern United States and Canada west to the Great Plains.
Similar Species: Red Elderberry has conical flower clusters, red fruits, and the pith of the stems is brown.
Comments: The fruits of Elderberry are an important food source for many birds and small mammals, and they are harvested to make jams and wine.
