Elderberry

Elderberry is the crop in this database most often planted as an anonymous seedling from a hedgerow, and it has a longer documented cultivar history than that habit suggests.

The American record runs in three waves. The first was in New York in the 1920s, producing ‘Adams No. 1’ and ‘Adams No. 2’, which have largely merged in the trade into one plant called ‘Adams’. The second was at the Kentville Research Station in Nova Scotia in the mid-twentieth century, releasing ‘Johns’ in 1954 and ‘Nova’, ‘Scotia’ and ‘Kent’ around 1960 — nearly all of them seedlings of the Adams clones. The third is current: the Missouri Elderberry Improvement Program, run jointly by the University of Missouri and Missouri State University, which released ‘Wyldewood’ in 2010 and ‘Bob Gordon’ and ‘Ranch’ in 2011. The modern releases are wild selections again rather than crosses, which tells you the programme judged the existing cultivar pool too narrow to breed within.

The European species is a different crop. Sambucus nigra cultivars — mostly Austrian and Danish — dominate commercial production in Europe and are grown in North America too. They are not interchangeable with the American species in habit, timing or handling, and a cultivar list that mixes the two without saying which is which will mislead a buyer.

Plant more than one. Elderberry is at best partially self-fertile. Some cultivars set a light crop alone, and yields go up substantially with a compatible second cultivar nearby — extension guidance suggests two cultivars within about sixty feet. This is the fourth crop in this database where the pollination line is the one that decides whether there is a harvest.

One safety note, because it belongs on the page rather than in a footnote. Elderberry leaves, stems, seeds and unripe fruit contain cyanogenic glycosides, and even ripe berries are not a raw fruit. Cooking destroys them; the standard guidance is to heat the berries thoroughly before eating or preserving. Anyone designing a planting that strangers will pick from should know that this is not a shrub to graze.