Few plants are so widespread and so easy to overlook: black elder stands at woodland edges, along railway embankments and in backyards. It gives two separate harvests a year, about three months apart.
The flowers stand in flat, creamy-white umbels from May to June. Harvest on a dry, sunny day when the umbel is fully open and strongly scented.
The berries ripen from August to September, hanging deep black and glossy on strikingly red-coloured stalks. The whole umbel should be fully coloured: individual green or red berries show the stand isn’t ready yet.
Black elder is a large shrub or small tree with pinnate leaves of usually five to seven leaflets. The young twigs have a soft, white pith inside — a good identifying feature.
The berry umbels hang downward when ripe. That detail separates it from its dangerous look-alike.
Raw elderberries contain sambunigrin and cause nausea and vomiting in many people. Standard practice is therefore to heat the berries through before use.
The stalks and leaves stay out too: they contain the compound in higher concentration.
Toxic, and the most important mix-up. A herbaceous perennial rather than a shrub, only one to two metres tall, with no woody trunk. The berry umbels stand upright rather than hanging, and the plant smells unpleasant.
Red berries in egg-shaped rather than flat umbels, growing at higher altitudes. The seeds are considered problematic.
The upright umbels of dwarf elder are the most reliable distinguishing feature: black elder lets its ripe berries hang, dwarf elder holds them up. Check as well whether the stem is woody.
From August to September, depending on location. The umbel is only ripe once all the berries are deep black, the stalk has turned red, and the umbel hangs downward.
Not on the same umbel: each flower umbel you pick produces no berries. On a large shrub you can harvest both in turn if you take only some of the flowers in June.
Most likely because they were used raw or not heated enough. The sambunigrin they contain irritates the stomach and gut.
Forage shows you the species in your region and pings you when the season starts.
This text is orientation on season and habitat, not an identification guide. It makes no claim about whether any specific plant or mushroom is edible. Many species have toxic look-alikes. Never eat anything you haven’t identified beyond doubt yourself, and when in doubt consult a field guide or a knowledgeable person. Mind conservation law and property rights.
