Elder
Sambucus nigraElder is a bushy shrub or small tree with many stems, common in hedges all over Britain. In June it carries flat cream plates of flowers. Its leaves smell unpleasant when bruised.
How to identify elder →
Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0
Yoshihiro Tokue, CC BY 4.0
Lookalikes
Elder or Japanese maple?
Garden forms of both have finely cut, feathery leaves.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the leaflets. Elder: five or seven leaflets on one stalk. Japanese maple: one blade cut into pointed lobes. No leaves on the tree? Check the fruit.
At a glance
| Look at | Elder | Japanese maple |
|---|---|---|
| Leaflets | Five or seven leaflets on one stalk | One blade cut into pointed lobes |
| Fruit | Small round berries, glossy black | Paired winged keys, reddish |
Two ways to tell them apart
LeafletsLeaves
FruitBerries
The two trees
Japanese maple
Acer palmatumJapanese maple is a small, rounded tree, often wider than it is tall. Its leaves are cut deeply into five or seven pointed lobes, each with fine, sharp teeth.
How to identify Japanese maple →
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: Michel Langeveld (CC BY 4.0), Yoshihiro Tokue (CC BY 4.0), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0), Marco Mussita (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), João D'Andretta (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.