American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) — Plotwright

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American elderberry

Habit (mature) · Gilles Ayotte / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Limited coverage

American elderberry

Sambucus canadensis

A fast, suckering native shrub of streambanks and moist thickets across eastern North America, grown for huge flat-topped cymes of tiny lemon-scented white flowers in early summer and the clusters of dark elderberry drupes that follow. Spreads by root suckers into naturalized colonies 5-12 feet tall and wide; the flowers feed butterflies and the showy fruit feeds birds. The raw berries are not eaten fresh — they are cooked into jelly, pie, and wine.

Native: 45 US states + 5 CA provinces

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: broad (90/100)

Structure

Edible

Pollinator

Focal point

Light

Full sun / Part sun / Part shade

Water

Consistent moisture

Mature size

60-144" tall · 96" apart

Hardy in zones

3-9

brutally cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Cool-Hot

cool to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

Yes

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Native across 50 US states and Canadian provinces — a wide-ranging part of North America's plant communities.

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 41 ecoregions — 40 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

Arizona Mountains forests

Atlantic coastal pine barrens

Blue Mountains forests

Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Central Tallgrass prairie

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

Chilean Matorral

Pollination

Self-fertile

The lemon-scented white flowers are perfect (each carries both stamens and pistil) and are worked by bees, flies, and other insects; the Missouri Botanical Garden lists the showy fragrant flowers as attracting butterflies. Planting more than one elderberry improves fruit set, but a single shrub still fruits.

Plants don't grow alone

Pollen forage

Bee

European honeybee (Apis mellifera)

The large flat-topped cymes of small open flowers are worked by bees and other generalist insects for pollen and nectar; Missouri Botanical Garden lists the flowers as attracting butterflies. Mapped to a generalist pollinator pending a species-level record.

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)

Phoebes supplement with small fruits/berries in fall and winter (Cornell, Audubon, ADW); elderberry is among the native fruits taken. No elderberry-specific record, so plausible.

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern bluebird (Sialia sialis)

Fruit forage

Bird

Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula)

Fruit forage

Bird

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Fruit forage

Bird

American robin (Turdus migratorius)

Fruit forage

Bird

Eastern songbirds (multi-species) (multiple species (Passeriformes))

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center notes the dark drupes are relished by many bird species; Missouri Botanical Garden lists the showy fruit as attracting birds. Late-summer elderberry fruit is a heavily used songbird food.

Foliage forage

Mammal

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Shelter / habitat

Beetle

Lady beetles (Coccinellidae)

Shelter / habitat

Beetle

Common eastern firefly (Photinus pyralis)

Shelter / habitat

Bee

Stem-nesting native bees (multiple genera (Ceratina, Hylaeus, Osmia, etc.))

Elderberry stems have soft pith that stem-nesting native bees can excavate; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags the species as providing nesting materials and structure for native bees.

For people

Edible

The dark elderberry drupes are edible only when cooked — they are not eaten fresh and raw. Cooked, they are made into jelly, preserves, pies, and elderberry wine (Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center). The flower cymes are also used cooked or infused. Raw berries, and the leaves, stems, bark, and roots, contain cyanogenic compounds and can cause nausea — cook the fruit and do not eat the foliage.

Edible parts

fruit, flowers

Toxic parts

leaves, stems, bark, roots, unripe fruit, raw fruit

Culinary use

Cooked elderberry jelly, preserves, pie filling, and wine; flower cymes infused into cordials or fried as fritters. Berries must be cooked — raw fruit and all green parts contain cyanogenic compounds.

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). Retrieved 2026, June 5, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/elderberry

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited — 18 source-backed.

Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder

Botanical research database

Backs 17 fields

Identity

Summary

Plant type

Light

Moisture

Hardiness

Heat zone

Size

Spacing

Habit

Design roles

Seasonal interest

Growth stages

Lifecycle

Regional guidance

Success tips

Designer notes

Wikimedia Commons

Photo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Backs 1 field

Image

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database

Botanical research database

Community photos

The photos above are our reviewed reference set, curated for accuracy.

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