Elder

Name: Elder

Scientific name: Sambucus nigra

Category: Trees and bushes

Nature Stars: 20

What are nature stars?

About: A small tree of woodland edge, hedgerows and grassland scrub.

How to identify: Recognisable by the compound leaves, the white umbels of flowers in the spring and summer and the glossy black-purple berries during the autumn. Elder smells strongly when damaged.

Where: Widespread

Fantastic fact: Elder berries are a favourite food of small birds such as warblers during the autumn as they prepare to migrate south.

Photograph credit: Philip Precey