Elderberry
Sambucus is a genus of flowering plants with about 30 different species (including an Australian variety), all called elder. Sambucus nigra is the main European variety. Both the flowers and the dark-purple berries are used for culinary and medicinal purposes.
Elderberries are one of the oldest medicinal herbs recorded. In 400 BCE, Hippocrates called the elder tree his “medicine chest”. Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Galen considered the elder one of nature’s greatest healing plants.
Traditionally, elderberries were used to
