confronting vegetation: Sambucus nigra

Late summer in Europe hasn't felt as botanically abundant as the same season in the Pacific Northwest, where I often am this time of year.  But one plant caught my eye at once, on my first day off the plane, and since then I've been photographing it all across the continent: 

It's Sambucus nigra, black elderberry, of the same genus as common red elderberry of North America, Sambucus recemosa.  But whereas red elderberry carries its berries in an upright spray, black elderberries are bigger and heavier, so they hang down, often form great cascades of these triangular berry clusters.  They don't taste much better than a red elderberry, but they certainly look like they taste better.

Comments

[dale]

I propose the elderberry as the emblem of Samsara: it always looks like it's going to taste so good!

:-)

[Teresa]

Elderberry is medicine. Medicine is not supposed to taste good.

Isn't it lush, though. Gorgeous.

T.

[Conifer homes for sale]

Do you know a place to find an altitude chart for ELderberry? I'd love to plant these but I live at 9000 feet in Conifer, CO and never know what will survice here. Very rocky (decomposing granite) around my home and not much top soil if any. Any suggestions?

[Fertil Aid Reviews]

Hmm what is that? looks like a small grapes to me hehehe ^_^