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| Family: Viburnaceae (Muskroot) |
| Flowers — color: white, size: 1/4", type: 5 petals |
The Blue Elderberry flower has five white or creamy petals in a star shape, less than 1/4" wide. Five white stamens with arrowhead anthers spread between the star's points or rise above the petal's plane. The low rounded pistil is trisected.
The flower cluster holds 100 or more flowers in a flat disk up to 1.5 inches diameter. Flowers develop into blue berries. Although the petals are pure white, the cluster from a distance look more yellowish, greenish, or creamy. I find the array resembles Queen Anne's lace or common yarrow, but elderberry may grow much taller.
Habit:
Blue or Mexican Elderberry is a tall shrub or small tree, up to 25 feet. The stems start green and age to reddish brown. The complex leaf is oddly pinnate, opposing pairs of leaflets [3–9], plus one terminal. Each dark green leaflet is elliptic, pointed at base and tip, and several inches long. The edges are serrated and the top seems almost shiny.
Blue Elderberries are high in vitamin C. Native Americans used them for food and dyes, and the wood for arrows and flutes. The berries do cotain an alkaloid and small levels of cyanide, so the USDA strongly recommends cooking them.
Elderberries prefer damper areas near streams, but survive in the chaparral and along several roads.