I have this weedy perennial shrub growing in the wild part of my almost 1 acre property. It is about 7 ft tall. Does anyone know what it is and is there anything I should know before I take it out? Any redeeming qualities? Thanks.
yes, the birds really like these berries. in the Okanagan, the berries are dark blue-purple. you can trim this shrub right down and it will grow fresh looking branches next year -
Different species in the Okanagan! The one with the blue to purplish fruit is more closely related to the European elderberry. It can also be found in southwest BC, by the way.
yes thank you D Mosquin ----- I have always wondered about the 2 (two) diff types ---- one on the beach side (ocean) and the other on the dry side (Okanagan Similkameen) why are they different color berries - do you know? I would like to learn more about that topic thank you. ------ ps - it seems that the purple-berry "elderberry" in OK BC are in disturbed areas ---- or maybe up in the canyons where there is cool shade, like upper Trout Creek (the Princeton Summerland Rd) ---- AND - where there has been logging or road clearing ---- the more established longterm UNdisturbed areas (because I am sure you know that any soil disturbed on the dry side is a longterm concern and brings in many invasives like Knapwd etc) ------- in other old areas we see saskatoon, oregon grape (short and sometimes tall) - I would like to see more info from UBC (given there is a big and significant UBC campus in Kelowna) about the dry side of our province.\\thank you for your help today.
I don't know re: fruit colour, other than I know it probably isn't a simple answer. And even at that, I need to correct an assumption I made. You may have been talking about the blue-purple variety of Sambucus racemosa, Sambucus racemosa var. melanocarpa whereas I was thinking of Sambucus cerulea, which also has dark-blue-purple fruit once the bluish-waxy bloom wears off. I had a look through Wildflwoer Genetics by Griffiths and Ganders for any discussion about elderberries, and they briefly refer to a yellow-fruited mutant variant of Sambucus racemosa for what that's worth.
I have seen Pacific red elder that were red, brown/purple, orange and yellow. The brown/purple type occurs in some numbers on some sites, the others as infrequent scattered individuals. In some locations most or all that you see from a given vantage point are brown/purple instead of red. The most lovely one I have seen was spotted up the hill from my place, it was about 2' tall and had canary yellow fruits with contrasting dark stalks. After I knocked on the door and got permission to take cuttings the occupant apparently came out and cut the rest of the shrub off, which unfortunately never grew back. Nurseries I supplied the cuttings with never got any rooting that I heard about, one place raised seedlings to fruiting stage which came out red - as might be expected.
