Sambucus cerulea subsp. cerulea Raf.
blue elderberry
Adoxaceae (Honeysuckle family)
(Previously in Caprifoliaceae)
© Val George (Photo ID #30226)
Distribution of Sambucus cerulea
Deciduous, erect shrub, occasionally a small tree, 1-5 (sometimes to 10) m tall, the trunk diameter to 25 cm, often several-stemmed from basal suckers; twigs soft, pithy, glaucous; old bark finely fissured.
Opposite, stalked, large, compound, pinnately divided into 5-9 leaflets, which are lanceolate to narrowly egg-shaped, 5-15 cm long and 2-6 cm wide, often asymmetric at the base, abruptly sharp-pointed at the tip, saw-toothed on the margins, and usually glabrous.
Inflorescence of numerous, small flowers in a flat-topped, 4-20 cm wide, umble-like cluster with 4-5 spokes; corollas wheel-shaped, white or cream; petals fused at base into short, flat tubes that spread (4-7 mm across) to 5 lobes that are longer than the tubes.
Berrylike, globose, 4-6 mm across, powder blue (bluish-black with a heavy, waxy bloom), with 3-5 wrinkled stones, each enclosing a seed.
Moist to mesic meadows, grasslands, shrublands, disturbed areas and open forests in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in S BC; S to MT, AZ, NM and CA.
Sambucus nigra subsp. cerulea (Raf.) R. Bolli