American Elder or Elderberry        sam-BEW-kus kan-a-DEN-sis

• Broadleaf deciduous large shrub, stoloniferous, multi-stemmed, 5-12 ft (~1.5-4 m) tall and similar width, branches yellowish gray, with some lenticels, pith white.  Leaves opposite, pinnately compound, usually 7 leaflets (5-11), short stalked, elliptic to lanceolate, 5-15 cm long, lowest leaflets frequently 3-lobed, tip acuminate, margin sharply serrate, bright green above, nearly glabrous below or pubescence on veins; fall color yellow-green.  Flowers white (yellow stamens), in slightly convex clusters (cymes) to about 25 cm across, ovary usually 4 celled; blooms in early summer.  Fruit purple-black, 4-5 mm across; used in pies and for wine.
• Sun and part shade, best in moist soils, suckers profusely, and sometimes considered weed-like.  For fruit production plant more than one selection.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 2 (Snyder, 2000), some selections only to Zone 4:    Native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia and Manitoba south to Florida and Texas.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: SE Peavy Hall.