🌸 Elderflower & Elderberry Sambucus nigra
This is a guide, not a substitute for expert identification. Foraging guides - including this one - can contain errors. If you are not completely certain of an identification, do not eat it. Cross-check against at least two independent sources, and when in doubt, consult a local foraging expert or an experienced forager in person before eating anything wild.
A common hedgerow and woodland-edge tree that provides two distinct seasonal harvests - fragrant creamy-white flowers in early summer and dark purple-black berries in autumn - but the raw berries and other plant parts must be treated with care.
Identification
Elder (Sambucus nigra) is a fast-growing large shrub or small tree, usually 3-10m tall, with grey-brown corky bark and pithy, easily-snapped stems. Leaves are compound, made up of 5-7 oval, toothed leaflets arranged in opposite pairs. In late spring (May-June) it produces large, flat-topped clusters (corymbs) of small, creamy-white, strongly and sweetly scented flowers held face-up toward the sky. By September these develop into drooping clusters of small, round berries that ripen from green through red to a deep purple-black, hanging in heavy bunches that bend the stems downward under their weight.
⚠️ Dangerous look-alikes - read this before picking anything
The main hazard with elder is not confusion with a different toxic species but the plant's own raw berries and other parts. Raw elderberries contain cyanogenic glycosides and lectins that can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, and in significant quantities more serious effects; cooking (boiling/heating) destroys these compounds and makes the berries safe, so elderberries must always be cooked, never eaten raw in any quantity. The leaves, stems, bark, seeds and roots of elder are toxic and should never be consumed. Elderflowers themselves are safe raw or cooked. A genuine related look-alike is dwarf elder (Sambucus ebulus, also called danewort) - sources describe it as more toxic-natured and give conflicting detail on severity, but consistently note it causes vomiting in some cases, especially in children, so it should be avoided. Key differences: dwarf elder is a low herbaceous shrub rarely over 2m with non-woody, green, ribbed stems (versus S. nigra's woody trunk/branches up to 10m), narrower elongated leaflets, a bushier, less flat-topped flower cluster, and reportedly an unpleasant foul smell when the leaves are crushed - unlike the sweet floral scent of common elder's flowers. If in doubt about which Sambucus you are looking at, or the plant is small, herbaceous and foul-smelling, do not pick it.
UK habitat
Elder is widespread and common across the UK, tolerating almost any soil type. Found in woodland, scrub, hedgerows, waste ground and field margins, and very often close to human settlement - old farmyards, churchyards, railway lines and gardens - since it thrives on disturbed, nutrient-rich ground.
Legal notes
Not protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 Schedule 8 - elder is a common, unprotected native tree. Picking flowers and fruit for personal use from wild-growing plants is not theft under Theft Act 1968 s4(3), provided it is not for commercial sale or reward. This covers flowers and fruit only, not uprooting the plant. See the full UK foraging law guide for the general rules.