Elderberry: Health Benefits, Medicial Uses, Side Effects

Elderberry is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa; Canadian elderberry is native primarily to North America. The drug, obtained from wild stocks, is imported mainly from Russia, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

Elderberry in herbal medicine

In herbal medicine, mainly the dried flowers (Sambuci flos), freed from the stems, are used. Almost no longer use the fresh or dried berries (Sambuci fructus), leaves and roots for medicinal purposes. The ripe berries are processed mainly into juice and jam.

Features of elderberry

Elderberry is a shrub or tree up to 6 m high, whose branches contain white pith. The shrub bears pinnate leaves and small, white flowers that are in full, umbrella-shaped umbels.

Elderberries are small, shiny black and very juicy. They are edible only after prior heating. Black elderberry looks very similar to Canadian elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), which is also commonly cultivated.

In Christianity, cutting down an elderberry tree was long considered a serious crime, as it was believed to bring bad luck and death. Judas is said to have hanged himself from an elder tree. The Germanic tribes, on the other hand, considered the tree sacred, dedicating it to the patron goddess Frau Holle.

Features of elderberry flowers

The drug consists of the individual flowers, which must first be freed from the umbels by sieving. However, it is also common to find parts of the trug umbels merely crushed by cutting. The yellowish-white single flowers are about 3 to 4 mm long.

Elder flowers spread a somewhat peculiar, characteristic odor. The taste of the flowers is sweet-mucilaginous.