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Does anyone know what these plants are?

Sep. 11th, 2019 at 10:04 AM

Tags: flowers, my_photo, nature, question

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elenbarathi.livejournal.com

Sep. 11th, 2019 05:47 pm (UTC)

EDIT: My mistake; not pokeberry; wrong kind of leaves. Pretty sure that's elderberry (https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=elderberry+#id=D33C3E044B213847397FD49BB27CA1BCF57EC453). (Bottom picture, no clue, sorry!)

Edited 2019-09-11 05:58 pm (UTC)

med_cat

Sep. 11th, 2019 06:15 pm (UTC)

Ah, interesting re: elderberry. Several bushes of this have grown around our yard; the flowers were small and white, and butterflies were all over them, by the dozen ;) I should've taken a video.

Thanks!

elenbarathi.livejournal.com

Sep. 11th, 2019 06:36 pm (UTC)

Surely welcome! Here's elder flower (https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=elder+flower).

med_cat

Sep. 11th, 2019 07:24 pm (UTC)

Yes, that's what the flowers looked like :)

oloriel.livejournal.com

Sep. 12th, 2019 08:39 am (UTC)

They're definitely not the typical elderberries (Sambucus nigra), though! The leaves are different (you can see the "correct" leaves in

lindahoyland's photo, and these have a different shape, colour, and texture!), as is the arrangement of the berries. It could be dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus), which is in fact poisonous. It's a different toxin than the one found in ordinary elderberries - the latter can be neutralised by cooking, whereas the one found in dwarf elder can't!

Edited 2019-09-12 09:25 am (UTC)

elenbarathi.livejournal.com

Sep. 13th, 2019 06:17 am (UTC)

Possibly, but Sambucus ebulus isn't a North American plant, and is only listed as naturalized in New York, New Jersey and Quebec. Grieves' Modern Herbal (http://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/e/elderd05.html) says:

"The Dwarf Elder differs from the Common Elder in being a herbaceous plant seldom exceeding 3 feet in height and dying back to the ground every year, spreading by underground shoots from the creeping root.

---Description---In leaf, flower and subsequent berry it bears a close resemblance to the Common Elder tree; the stem, however, is not woody and the leaves are distinguished by having a stipule, or small leaf, at the base of the finely-toothed leaflets, which are more numerous than those of the Common Elder, usually seven in number, larger and narrower and sometimes lobed.

....

med_cat's first photo does show a woody stem, so that would seem to rule dwarf elder out.

The common elderberry of our East Coast is Sambuca canadensis (https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/sambucus-canadensis/), also called American elderberry (https://homeguides.sfgate.com/difference-between-american-elder-elderberry-tree-77489.html) - here's more images (https://www.ecosia.org/images?q=Sambucus+canadensis) to compare.

All elderberries are somewhat toxic, but according to this site on Sambucus ebulus (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5871274/), "Stomach upset also could happen by the fruit of these species. Yet, this toxicity is at such a low level that could be prevented by cooking." I wouldn't advise picking them in any case; the world is full of better things to eat.

Edited 2019-09-13 06:19 am (UTC)

oloriel.livejournal.com

Sep. 13th, 2019 08:46 am (UTC)

Well, I'm definitely not familiar enough with North American plants (except those that were brought in by us peksy Europeans...)! The stem in the photo looks very woody indeed (but entirely different from the European elderberry). From the pictures you've linked to, it doesn't look like Sambuca canadensis either, though.

Yeah, there are definitely better things to experiment with.

elenbarathi.livejournal.com

Sep. 13th, 2019 11:12 pm (UTC)

North America has a zillion different berries, both native and introduced, that I would categorize as 'bird berries' - smooth (without drupelets) and ranging from pink to orange to blue to black. Some of them are highly toxic, some mildly toxic, some perfectly safe, some safe if cooked - many of them easy to mistake for something else (which is also the problem with our mushrooms.) Best not to eat any of them unless you're absolutely sure.

On the other hand, any berry with drupelets is safe to eat, and we have plenty of those too; mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, marionberries, thimbleberries, salmonberries - more than enough for everybody's pie, jam and wine.

oloriel.livejournal.com

Sep. 14th, 2019 08:15 am (UTC)

Yeah, we don't have as many of them, but "don't eat them unless you're sure" applies to both berries and mushrooms here, too!

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