Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Sambucus racemosa [Sambucus melanocarpa] [Sambucus microbotrys] [Sambucus pubens]
- Family
- Viburnaceae [Adoxaceae]
- CommonName
- red elderberry
- Presence
- Yes
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1901
- LatestDate
- 2019
- Ecosystem
- montane
- Geobotanical
- SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos
- Counties
- Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan
- Passes
- Cumbres, La Veta, Stony
- WildlifePreserves
- Other Localities
- Comments
- Sambucus racemosa is the dominant elderberry on both sides of the Watershed, typically growing in montane woods, often alongside roads. In New Mexico it follows the Rio Grande drainage nearly to the Mexican border, but no farther. It is present in all states west of the Great Plains, northern Great Plains, and New England. The bush with red berries is Sambucus racemosa var. microbotrys; the one with black or purplish berries is S. racemosa var. melanocarpa. Both varieties have been recorded from both sides of the Valley, but var. microbotrys much more often. The surveys of Hogan and Elliot (2023) found only var. microbotrys in the North Cristos. Note that native Americans not only made elderberry a staple food (the berries were a key ingredient in pemmican), they also used the stems to make fire, with cedar as the plank and juniper bark as the starter.
- Annotation