Elder

The large elder bush on the South side of the pond was featured amongst ‘Nature’s Bounty’ in September 2024. A year on and only a few of this year’s elderberries are left, the fruit having developed early following the ‘unusual’ summer, and most already snaffled by the blackbirds, finches, pigeons, robins, thrushes and tits.

The shrub’s habit and characteristics are described well by PJ Kavanagh in his eponymous poem:

… chewed by cattle springs up stronger;
an odd Personal smell and unlovable skin;
straight shoots like organ pipes in cigarette paper …
In summer it juggles flower-plates in air,
creamy as cumulus, and berries …
purple fruits in a rattle of bones …

The bark (skin) becomes characteristically furrowed and corky, and while the flowers begin with a sweet, honey aroma in time this changes to a somewhat obnoxious odour (so it’s best to make your ‘champagne’ early on).

Comparatively few insect species, just 19, feed on elder, because the plant produces protective glycosides. Of course, one species of aphid has evolved with a resistance to the toxin, so you might spot colonies of these on young shoots in spring. A number of moth caterpillars have also copied the trick: white-spotted pug, swallowtail, dot moth and buff ermine.

The elder is allelopathic, ie it suppresses the growth of surrounding shrubs and trees, though it seems to be having little effect on the brambles that are growing over the one by the pond!

Further information and images:

Woodland Trust - Elder