Photo by David Anderson on iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0 · photographed specimen identified as Sambucus cerulea, a close relative
Elderberries
Sambucus canadensis
- When
- Typically August – September — August, September. Earlier in the south, later in the north.
- Where it grows
- Damp ditches, streambanks and field edges — the same shrubs that flowered in June.
- How to know it
- Flat, heavy clusters of tiny purple-black berries on red-tinged stems, on a shrub with opposite compound leaves.
- Look-alikes
- Red elderberry is not eaten raw; pokeweed berries hang in a grape-like spike from a thick purple stem and are toxic.
- Harvest and use
- Always cooked. Syrup, jelly, wine. Strip berries with a fork and discard every bit of green stem.
- Caution
- Raw berries, leaves and stems contain cyanogenic compounds. Cook them.
Found in these regions
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Also ready in September
FruitAugust – SeptemberBeach plum
Prunus maritima
Low sprawling shrub in the sand, with dusty purple plums about the size of a marble.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
NutSeptember – OctoberBlack walnut
Juglans nigra
Tennis-ball green husks lying under a tall tree with long compound leaves; the husk stains everything it touches brown.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Sandy Wolkenberg · CC BY 4.0
FruitAugust – SeptemberChokecherry
Prunus virginiana
Long drooping clusters of dark red-to-black cherries on a small tree with finely toothed oval leaves.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
Educational information only. Never eat a wild plant or mushroom identified from a single photograph or description — confirm with a regional field guide or an experienced forager, and know the poisonous species in your area first.