- Region
- Europe
- Origin
- European black elder (Sambucus nigra); also found in North Africa and western Asia
- Other names
- Vlierbes
Europe · Food · № 21
Sambucus nigra
Food · Europe
Elderberry
Sambucus nigra
Berries have a folk-use history for cold and flu symptoms; clinical evidence remains preliminary.
Safety notes
Raw or unripe berries and leaves or stems contain cyanide-producing substances that can cause severe illness. Cooking berries removes this toxin.
Cautions by tradition (5)
- Herbal medicine worldwide: Bark not in pregnancy, do not use the root, leaf only externally.
- Herbs for viral infections: Not with autoimmune diseases.
- Natural skin and hair care: Use only dried or heated berries and flowers; raw berries, leaves and stems can cause nausea. Do not give honey to children under one year old.
- Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine: Raw bark, leaves and unripe berries are poisonous.
- Western herbs in Chinese medicine: Caution in people who are weak and cold or have little energy (qi deficiency). Do not eat raw berries, leaves and stems. Have erysipelas and persistent fever assessed by a doctor.
Preparation
Use only ripe berries that have been cooked, such as in syrup or food. Do not eat raw or unripe berries.
Use in traditions
NCCIH describes elderberry as traditionally used for colds and flu.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Herbal medicine worldwide
Attributed effects
Flowers expectorant, anticatarrhal, promote circulation, induce sweating, diuretic, anti-inflammatory; berries induce sweating and urination, laxative; bark strongly laxative; leaf soothing and wound-healing.
Preparation and amount
Hot elderflower tea for fever, catarrh of the airways and hay fever (with yarrow, boneset and peppermint); gargle for sore throat; cold eye bath; tincture from February to April against hay fever; bark decoction (10 g in 800 ml) for stubborn constipation; leaf ointment for bruises, chilblains and haemorrhoids; berry syrup to prevent colds.
Caution: Bark not in pregnancy, do not use the root, leaf only externally.
Western herbalism
Attributed effects
Berries: induce sweating, diuretic, antiviral, laxative; flowers: induce sweating, expectorant; leaf: soothing, wound-healing; supports the immune system in flu and viral infections, lowers fever, loosens mucus.
Preparation and amount
Berry decoction: 2 tsp in 350 ml, 10 min, 1–3 cups a day; flower/leaf tea: 1–2 tsp per cup, steep 3–4 hours or overnight; tincture 1–2 dropperfuls 1–3 times a day; leaf in wound ointment, eyewash and compress.
Herbs for viral infections
Attributed effects
Antiviral (flavonoids such as quercetin stop viruses from entering cells); especially against flu (shortens its duration), also herpes; antioxidant, protects blood vessels.
Preparation and amount
Juice or liquid capsules, or in food; juice 15 ml 4 times a day, no longer than 12 weeks.
Caution: Not with autoimmune diseases.
Natural skin and hair care
Attributed effects
Elderflower has long been drunk as a sweat-inducing tea for colds; the berries are rich in pigments and vitamin C.
Preparation and amount
Internal: dried flowers or berries in a herbal honey for colds (see the recipe).
Caution: Use only dried or heated berries and flowers; raw berries, leaves and stems can cause nausea. Do not give honey to children under one year old.
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) medicine
Attributed effects
The bark drink as a spring emetic and for babies as a laxative; the flowers for measles.
Preparation and amount
Scrape the bark of American elder upwards and pour lukewarm water over it; flowers as a tea.
Caution: Raw bark, leaves and unripe berries are poisonous.
Western herbs in Chinese medicine
- Nature and taste
- pungent, bitter, cool
- Meridians
- lung, bladder, liver
Attributed effects
Expels wind-heat: fever, cough and a raw, red, swollen throat, especially at the start of a cold (the flower works more strongly than the berry and is strongly diaphoretic). Cools heat, neutralizes 'toxin', dries dampness and brings rashes out, for example with red, swollen rashes such as erysipelas (juice of berries or flowers). Also helps when liver heat rises, with sore throat, red eyes and sores on the head and upper body. In Western terms anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral; in laboratory research from 1995 the berries inhibited the influenza virus.
Preparation and amount
Flowers 1–6 g as an infusion or short decoction, berries 3–30 g as a decoction, or 2–4 ml tincture of the fresh plant. Pick the flowers in mid to late summer when they are open and dry them so that they do not turn brown: good dried flowers smell fragrant, are light cream in colour and have few stalks. Classic sweating tea: equal parts elderflower, yarrow and peppermint (for example 6 g of each to 1 litre of boiling water, steeped covered for 15–20 minutes). Drink a few cups, take a warm shower or bath, drink another cup and get under the covers to sweat it out. For syrup, simmer the berries gently, press them and boil down with sugar; this syrup is also a good base for cough syrup. Wine and cordial are also made from the berries. The pollen that falls through a sieve from drying flowers used to be mixed as a soft powder into skin products and lotions.
Combinations
- With echinacea, sarsaparilla, sassafras and cleavers for damp-hot skin rashes
- With mullein and red clover for cough from wind-heat
- With the formula sang ju yin at the onset of wind-heat with high fever, sore throat and cough
Caution: Caution in people who are weak and cold or have little energy (qi deficiency). Do not eat raw berries, leaves and stems. Have erysipelas and persistent fever assessed by a doctor.
Folklore and herbal magic
Symbolic meanings from folk use and modern herbal magic. These are handed-down associations, not effects.
Prosperity, speeds healing, protection, elderflower water to purify the house, protection (especially against lightning), healing, beauty, divination, purification, house blessing, sleep.
Herbal magic and rituals
Attributed effects
In herbal magic associated with protection, healing and prosperity.
Preparation and amount
In northern European folk belief a spirit lived in the elder, in Denmark the Hyldemoer or elder mother, whose permission you asked before cutting branches. An elder by the house or stable kept evil out, and the wood was never used for a cradle or the hearth fire.
Home, kitchen and folk use
Attributed effects
Bark: diuretic, laxative and emetic. Berries: laxative, diuretic and induce sweating. Leaves externally soothing for irritated skin, sprains and bruises. Blossom tea induces sweating in colds and loosens a congested chest and sinuses. Blossom water for sunburn, acne and as an eyewash.
Preparation and amount
Bark, berries, leaves and blossom; elderflower tea; elderflower water externally and as an eyewash; in a cold tea (ginger, elderflower, yarrow: 1 tsp to 1 cup of boiling water, steep 5–7 min); edible flower.