Sambucus racemosa var. melanocarpa

Black elderberry, Black Elderberry

Family: Viburnaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Black elderberry is a native shrub found in the northern California Cascades and Sierra Nevada Mountains in streamsides, meadow edges, and conifer forests at elevations of 1,800 to 3,600 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces white flowers in clustered inflorescences approximately 4 to 7 centimeters wide. Growing with multiple stems reaching up to 3 meters tall, it forms dense, multi-branched thickets in moist mountain habitats. Its compound leaves are composed of 5 to 7 leaflets with smooth or slightly hairy undersides, typically dark green and serrated along the edges. The fruit develops as distinctive purple-black berries, which are an important food source for wildlife in high-elevation mountain ecosystems.

Habitat: Streamsides, edges of meadows or conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 1800-3600 m

Bioregions: CaR, SNH

California counties: Tuolumne, Modoc, El Dorado, Mariposa, Nevada, Placer, Siskiyou, Trinity, Tulare, Mono

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.