The popularity of elderberry (Sambucus species) as a food source and traditional medicine has led to a significant increase in foraging. Accurate identification is crucial for safety, as several common look-alikes contain potent toxins that pose a serious health risk if ingested. Understanding the specific characteristics that define true elderberry is the first step in safe harvesting.
Identifying True Elderberry
True elderberry (Sambucus species) grows as a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree. The mature bark is gray-brown and features numerous small, corky bumps called lenticels. The stems are woody and contain a soft, prominent white or sometimes brown spongy center, known as pith, which is visible if a twig is snapped.
The leaves are pinnately compound, growing directly opposite each other on the stem. Each leaf is divided into a central stalk with five to eleven smaller leaflets that have distinctly serrated edges.
In late spring or early summer, the plant produces large, showy clusters of tiny, creamy-white flowers. These clusters form a distinct flat-topped or slightly rounded shape, classified as a cyme. By late summer, these flowers develop into small, round dark purple to black berries, which are also arranged in the characteristic cyme cluster.
The Most Dangerous Imposters
The most perilous look-alike is water hemlock (Cicuta maculata), sometimes mistaken for elderberry due to its large clusters of white flowers. Water hemlock is an herbaceous perennial, lacking the woody stems and bark of elderberry. Its stems are hollow, green, and often display distinctive purple streaks or mottling, contrasting sharply with elderberry’s pith-filled woody twigs.
Water hemlock’s leaves are alternately arranged and more finely divided, often appearing triple-compound. Every part of the plant contains cicutoxin, a neurotoxin considered one of the most violent poisons in North America. Ingestion can rapidly cause seizures, respiratory failure, and death, even from small amounts.
Another toxic imposter is pokeweed (Phytolacca americana), an herbaceous plant that can grow to a similar height as an elderberry shrub. It is confused with elderberry due to its dark purple-black berries appearing in late summer. A key differentiator is the stem, which is bright magenta or purplish-red and lacks the woody texture of elderberry.
Pokeweed berries are toxic, causing severe gastrointestinal distress if consumed. Unlike elderberry’s broad, branching fruit clusters, pokeweed berries hang in long, drooping, cylindrical structures called racemes. These racemes feature individual berries attached to the main stem with separate stalks.
Less Toxic but Still Confusing Look-alikes
Devil’s Walking Stick (Aralia spinosa) is a large, deciduous shrub or small tree that produces dark purple berries in clusters, leading to confusion with elderberry. The clear distinguishing feature is the presence of sharp, stiff thorns or prickles covering the stems, leaf stalks, and trunk.
Elderberry is entirely smooth and lacks thorns or spines. The leaves of Devil’s Walking Stick are enormous, often three to four feet long, and are triple-pinnately compound, making them much larger than elderberry’s single-pinnate leaves. While its berries are mildly toxic, the prominent thorns immediately rule it out.
Certain sumac species, particularly smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), are confused with elderberry due to their similar compound leaf structure and shrubby growth. The most reliable difference is the fruit presentation. Sumac produces dense, upright, conical clusters of fuzzy, brick-red fruit.
These sumac fruit clusters, known as bobs, persist through the winter and differ distinctly from the smooth, dark, drooping clusters of elderberry. Sumac leaves are pinnately compound, but their leaflets generally have smooth edges near the base and are arranged alternately, contrasting with the consistently serrated, opposite leaves of elderberry.
Key Differences in Flower and Fruit Structure
The structure of the flower and fruit clusters provides the most reliable final confirmation for identification. Elderberry flowers and fruits are arranged in a flat-topped cyme, resulting in dark purple berries that hang downward due to their weight.
Water hemlock displays an umbrella-like flower head, but its structure is an umbel, producing small greenish-white seed structures rather than soft, dark berries. A key difference is leaf venation: elderberry leaf veins terminate at the tip of the serrated margin, whereas water hemlock veins end in the notches between the serrations.
Pokeweed produces its dark berries in elongated, hanging racemes. Examining the stem’s interior is another definitive test: a true elderberry twig has a broad, white pith. In contrast, water hemlock stems are hollow, and pokeweed stems have a fleshy core.