Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

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Sambucus nigra

Common name

Elderberry, Common Elder

Family

Adoxaceae

Where found

Garden escape. Widespread. Rare on the Western Slopes.

Notes

Introduced deciduous shrub or tree to about 6 m high. Fruit fleshy. Branches striate, with lenticels, more or less hairless, 4-angled when young. Leaves opposite each other, mostly 5–25 cm long; compound, with 3-7 leaflets, mostly 4–8 cm long, 15–45 mm wide, the lowest pair not close to the stem, tips pointed, margins in the upper two-thirds, surfaces more or less leathery, becoming hairless.  Flowers white or yellowish, usually with 5 petals each 2.5–3 mm long, shortly joined at the base. Flowers in branched clusters 5–20 cm diameter. Flowers mainly Oct.–Jan. Fruit black, shiny, more or less round, about 5 mm long.

Family was Sambucaceae. Family Caprifoliaceae in Vic.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Sambucus~nigra (accessed 6 February, 2021)