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The taste is a bit tart and they are not to be eaten RAW, more than a few can make you nauseous. The tip of the rounded berry will have a bump where it was formed from the flower. The elderberries are about 1/8th of an inch in diameter or the size of a BB. Berries ripen in late July and August in MO. Although it is easy to identify an elderberry in berry stage, elderberry plants are not always easy to spot in the berry stage because they blend in with the scenery. From flowers to ripe berries takes about 6-8 weeks.

Flowers typically bloom the first week of June at my farm in Missouri.Įlderberry berries start out as flowers and then change from green to deep purple/ blackish berries when ripe. There will typically also be 5 thin white filament tubes arising from near the center of the flower and ending in a pale yellow tip although there may be only 3 or 4 tips arising from the interior of the flower. The flowers have rounded tipped petals and there are five petals for each tiny flower. The elderberry plant produces a flattened cluster of up to 10 inches in diameter of tiny creamy white flowers. Identify American Elderberry by FlowersĮlderberry identification is by far the easiest in the flower stage.The veins tend to fade off and narrow as they reach the edge of the leaf and there is NOT the noticeable characteristic of the vein ending in the valley of the sawtooth edges. The veins of the leaf are most prominent as they leave the lighter green midrib. They are arranged in opposite pairs with 5 to 7 leaves on each stem. An elderberry plant older than a year can be identified by its bush or shrub-like appearance and it should have several branches coming from near the base.Įlderberry can be identified by the characteristics on the leaves, which are oblong and have ‘sawtooth’ sharply serrated edges. The older, bigger stems will also have vertical furrows, similar to stretch marks. If you look closely at the woody stems you will notice many tiny bumps. The most prominent difference that will help you to identify the elderberry by the stems and branches alone is the bumps on the woody bark. The plant usually stands about 3-8 feet high and is dependent on plant age. Each elderberry plant typically has a mixture of both green stems and branches with bark. The first year of growth on the plant will be green stems. So even if it is not berry or flower season you will know. You can identify an elderberry plant by the characteristics on the stems and branches. Identify American Elderberry by Stems and Branches.Identifying Characteristics of the American Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra canadensis).