Native · Up to 10 m

Elder

Sambucus nigra · Viburnaceae

Elder 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.

Often mistaken for common ash. How to tell them apart →

Know it by

LeavesFive or seven leaflets, with an unpleasant smell when bruised.

Flower platesCream flower plates in June, black berries by early autumn.

BarkPale, corky bark, usually on several stems.

Then check · TwigsThe leaves or buds sit in opposite pairs, and a broken young shoot is hollow or filled with soft white spongy pith, with an unpleasant smell.

How to identify an elder

Kieran Roy Powell, CC BY 4.0

Leaves

Each leaf is made of five or seven pointed, sharply toothed leaflets, in pairs with one at the tip. A bruised leaf has an unpleasant smell.

Flower plates

In June the tree carries broad, flat plates of tiny cream flowers. By early autumn the same heads hang down, full of small, glossy black berries.

Rich Agar, CC BY 4.0

Bark

On older stems the bark is pale and corky, cut into criss-cross ridges that give under a thumb. Usually several stems rise from one base.

Learn the elder in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Elder leaves: five or seven leaflets, in opposite pairs — LeavesFive or seven leaflets, in opposite pairs

Elder flower plates: flat cream plates, up to 24 cm across — Flower platesFlat cream plates, up to 24 cm across

Elder berries: drooping clusters of small black berries — BerriesDrooping clusters of small black berries

Elder bark: creamy grey, corky, in criss-cross ridges — BarkCreamy grey, corky, in criss-cross ridges

Elder twigs: purplish pineapple buds, white pith inside — TwigsPurplish pineapple buds, white pith inside

Michel Langeveld, CC BY 4.0

ShapeMany-stemmed shrub, limbs arching over

When to look

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In leaf

Flowers

Berries

In leaf: January to November · Flowers: April to July · Berries: June to October

Every tree on the calendar · How to identify trees in winter

Where you’ll find it

Hedges, woodland edges, scrub and rough, neglected ground, and along roads, railways and rivers. It is seldom on sandy ground, and often grows on the rich, dug-over soil around a rabbit warren or badger sett.

What it’s mistaken for

Elder or common ash?Both have feathered leaves in opposite pairs, and both barks are ridged in the same criss-cross net.Leaflets on one leaf

Elder or tree of heaven?Both have feathered leaves and an unpleasant smell.Whole plant

Elder or Japanese maple?Garden forms of both have finely cut, feathery leaves.Leaflets

RowanBoth have feathered leaves and flat white flower heads. Leaf. Elder: in opposite pairs. Rowan: one at a time, up the twig.
WalnutBoth have feathered leaves. Leaf. Elder: sharply toothed, on every leaflet. Walnut: smooth, apart from the odd small tooth low down.

In the app

There’s more of the elder in Treely

Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
A short round each dayUntil you know the elder on sight, from any side
Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree

App Store Google Play

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), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0), cjoynson (CC0), Rich Agar (CC BY 4.0), lisemari (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Glossysun (Sunny Pearce) (CC BY 4.0), Matthew Flood (CC BY 4.0), Mattia Menchetti (CC BY 4.0), Marco Mussita (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.