Sambucas canadensis, “American elderberry”
Caprifoliaceae
One of my favorite plants! Plant it in every yard! A good plant to put in your medicine prairie, in the more mesic part of the site (in the swale) along with the blue vervain and nettles. This plant is famous as the basis of a medicinal wine.
The flower infusion is used for colds, respiratory infections and mild nervous disorders. The flowers in bath water soften the skin, soothe sore muscles and act as an excellent remedy for irritable nerves. The berries eaten raw are said to help arthritis and gout. The berry infusion is used for treating colds, insomnia, migraine headaches, to sooth children’s upset stomacs, to relieve gas, and for weight loss as a diuretic and detoxifying agent.. The berry juice mixed with honey makes an excellent cough syrup.
Elderberry contains the active components anthocyanin pigments, triterpenes, the flavonoid glycosoids rutin and quercitrin, sugar, vitamin A, very high amounts of vitamin C (unfortunately you’re supposed to cook the berries to denature the cyanogenic glycosides which also denatures the vitamin C), thiamine, niacin, calcium, the cyanogenic glycosides vaerianic, palmitic, linoleic and linolenic acids.
(“Medicinal Plants of the Heartland”, Kaye and Billington)
-Easy to grow in Missouri; easy to propagate by seed or cuttings.
-Flowering period, fruit ripening, and fruit yield in elderberry are highly dependent on genotype and environment.
-Knowledge of a variety of fruit juice characteristics is important in wine-making. Preliminary evaluations of elderberry juice across multiple cultivars, locations, and seasons reveal the following characteristics for elderberry juice: °Brix = 11.94, pH = 4.65, Titratable acidity = 0.88%.**
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