Puzzled by a plant - can anyone identify?

[Bradypus]

I've been seeing a lot of an interesting wild plant I have never seen in the UK. Looks superficially quite like elderberry but it seems to be an annual plant, reaching about 1.5m high on a single stem and with a dense cluster of elderberry-like fruits at the top. Anyone know what it is? One thing I've discovered is that the berries make a powerful purple stain

 

[mspath]

View attachment 29317 I've been seeing a lot of an interesting wild plant I have never seen in the UK. Looks superficially quite like elderberry but it seems to be an annual plant, reaching about 1.5m high on a single stem and with a dense cluster of elderberry-like fruits at the top. Anyone know what it is? One thing I've discovered is that the berries make a powerful purple stain

Might your find be a Pokeberry?
Check out more re the Elderberry/Pokeberry relationship here.
http://www.herbalrootszine.com/articles/elderberry-vs-pokeberry/

Happy foraging!

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Sambucus??? I'm no expert - but check it on Wiki.

 

[Bradypus]

Might your find be a Pokeberry?

Afraid not. The fruit head is a big flat cluster - very like our UK elderberry but upside down. Different from the pokeberry. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[mspath]

Afraid not. The fruit head is a big flat cluster - very like our UK elderberry but upside down. Different from the pokeberry. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Hope what you have is not Water Hemlock which is similar but highly poisonous. See
http://www.eattheweeds.com/ufos-2/look-alikes/elderberry-or-water-hemlock/

 

[GreatDane]

I cannot read the word elderberry with out thinking of the Monty Python insult "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! " Of course this is of no help in your identification of the plant...

 

[Bradypus]

Sambucus??? I'm no expert - but check it on Wiki.

Thanks! Think it is probably Sambucus ebulus (Danewort) from the description and photo on Wikipedia. The geographic range is right too. An attractive plant. Probably not a good idea to take some home though. Look how well that worked with Japanese knotweed...

 

[jerbear]

Polk?

 

[domigee]

Des myrtilles?

 

[Bradypus]

View attachment 29318 Des myrtilles?

Very pretty but definitely not that. I think @Stephen Nicholls solved the problem when he pointed me to the wiki page on Sambucus. Perhaps I should experiment with the liqueur possibilities? Would have to investigate Spanish laws around distilling though. Might get a bit too complicated

 

[SYates]

@Bradypus Look up Pacharan and the like. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Bradypus]

@Bradypus Look up Pacharan and the like. Buen Camino, SY

@SYates I'm way ahead of you on Pacharan. One of the great discoveries of my first Camino. Very hard to buy in the UK so I looked around for recipes and I make my own in years when the sloe harvest is good. I've had a glass or two in this past week too

 

[SYates]

@SYates I'm way ahead of you on Pacharan. ...

I seriously doubt it, sip-sip, I have a lead of many, many litres, sip-sip. SY

 

[domigee]

Pacharan .... Now you're talking....

 

[Tincatinker]

Sambucas are more likely to feature in Sambuca, that over sweet anisette encountered in a certain type of Italian restaurant: flamed and with a coffee bean floating in the fire. Sambuca is classically flavoured with Elder flower, fennel and half a dozen other 'secret' ingredients readily identified in Wikipedia. (Elder, dried Lemon & bitter Orange peel work best & forget the sugar - the consumer can always add a cube if they're that way inclined) Sambuca Negra is flavoured with the dried or cooked berries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambucus

Pacharan is mainly Sloes with maybe coffee, cinnamon and fennel, all unnecessary if you have good, frost-nipped sloes.

Smugly contemplates bottles of Mures Sauvages, Sloe Gin, Sambuca and Damson Vodka snuggled in the larder and quietly dreads the Yuletide thrash....

 

[SYates]

... Smugly contemplates bottles of Mures Sauvages, Sloe Gin, Sambuca and Damson Vodka snuggled in the larder and quietly dreads the Yuletide thrash....

I haven't been in the UK for a while ... quietly planning secret robbery of @Tincatinker's larder ...
BC SY

 

[Tincatinker]

Just ring the door bell. No need for burglary

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

Sambuca, that over sweet anisette encountered in a certain type of Italian restaurant: flamed and with a coffee bean floating in the fire

The setting: the Italian Officers' Club in Decimomannu. The event: Crud match of an epic nature. Flaming sambucas for all the guys in my squadron, a cappuccino for me. The decision: should I take my turn, or go help put out one of the pilots...
hey, I was down to my last life.

 

[Tincatinker]

 

[SYates]

... hey, I was down to my last life.

That explains everything -> You are a cat and your forum name is just a disguise! SY

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

shhhhh

 

[SYates]

;-) https://www.instagram.com/roteskampfkaterchen/
SY

*Sorry mods for going FAR OFF TOPIC*

 

[Marion-SantiagoInLove]

Errr... back on-topic
It awfully looks a lot like the very toxic sort of elderberry/Sambucus... There are tons of them in Spain
The others edible sorts are big bushes/trees, usually the flowers/berries fall down. The toxic kind grows on single stems and their flowers/berries look up until their wight bend them more or less. Which is just what you described...
Please don't try any liqueur if you're not sure about it And wash when done painting yourself purple
Whatsoever, stay alive!

 

[Bradypus]

@Marion-SantiagoInLove Thank you for your words of warning. I love foraging but I'm always pretty cautious with new plants. Even the green parts of our common elder are poisonous - though as they stink like cat's pee I've often wondered who troubled to find out!

Thanks to all for your replies. "Educate. Inform. Entertain" Lord Reith would have been so pleased.

 

[andy.d]

Are you still alive Bradypus after a night on pacheran and sambucus berries?

 

[Bradypus]

Are you still alive Bradypus after a night on pacheran and sambucus berries?

Fine thanks - alive and well and in Grañon. And both my legs are still working.

 

[basquelady]

Thanks! Think it is probably Sambucus ebulus (Danewort) from the description and photo on Wikipedia. The geographic range is right too. An attractive plant. Probably not a good idea to take some home though. Look how well that worked with Japanese knotweed...

Thanks for the ID; tooks pics in 2014 but was unsuccessful in trying to name. I tried a berry but it tasted horrible and I got rid of it very speedily!

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

Thanks for the ID; tooks pics in 2014 but was unsuccessful in trying to name. I tried a berry but it tasted horrible and I got rid of it very speedily!

I am going to assume you are an expert in plants, but may I suggest to the rest of the forum that they not put strange flora into their mouths? I've treated patients who picked the wrong mushroom or berry...not pretty. Some plants are extremely toxic, enough that you wouldn't make it down the road to a hospital.
please please please no tasting.

 

[andy.d]

Fine thanks - alive and well and in Grañon. And both my legs are still working.

that's below the belt! Hopefully walking again from the 15th (Bradypus and I aren't trolling each other - he was helping me out on my Cistercian Way Pilgrimage which is currently interrupted due to my hurting my knee badly)

 

[Anniesantiago]

I use Sambucus (elderberry) every year, both red and black.
I know of no elderberries that are toxic when cooked.
They are toxic when raw and the stems and leaves are toxic.

Joe sent a photo of a similar bush yesterday - we aren't sure about this one and the locals said it was toxic, but maybe they don't want pilgrims picking and eating them.

I've never seen sambucus growing this way, in a low bush with the berries upright.
All the elderberries I've ever picked, short or tall, were drooping.

 

[amancio]

no sambucus, saúco, sabuco or elderberries in my opinion, they must be distantly related to grapes, but it is just an ornamental plant, this time of the year they are beautifully thriving, the leaves look a bit like grapevines, but they are not edible. I can tell you what it is NOT, but I cannot tell you what it actually IS, sorry!

 

[Marion-SantiagoInLove]

The locals said it was toxic, but maybe they don't want pilgrims picking and eating them.

Or they genuinely want to save some pilgrims' lives...

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

note the skull and crossbones in @Kathar1na's pictures
wishing you all a safe and sane Camino (to steal a phrase from our 4th of July)

edit: also proving what it took me half the Norte to figure out...listen to the locals

 

[Anniesantiago]

Or they genuinely want to save some pilgrims' lives...

That's what I said or at least what I meant

 

[Anniesantiago]

I thought this was a good website on identification of sambucus and its lookalikes, and while he states he THINKS people shouldn't eat Dwarf Elderberry, a person writes at the bottom that as long as the berries are cooked, they're good. I find this topic interesting so am going to read all I can about this plant.

http://sunflower-press.com/definitive-guide-elderberry/

UPDATE: Except for a few people hollaring "it's toxic!" with no data to back up their opinion, every SCIENTIFIC paper I've read states the toxicity of the BERRIES is low and ALL toxicity is destroyed with cooking. It is apparently used in Iran and Bularia to flavor soups and as a common food source.

 

[Smallest_Sparrow]

you are right, toxicity is low (for humans) and ameliorated by cooking
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25723322

butnot safe if you are a dog (for those walking with their best friend) http://www.pgvet.bc.ca/poisonous-plant-listing.pml (not sure if it's ok once cooked)

the protein in question has a ricin-like activity, inactivated when heated to a high enough temperature.

another good reason to avoid tasting unknown plants...or at least get someone else to taste it

 

[Anniesantiago]

another good reason to avoid tasting unknown plants...or at least get someone else to taste it

Where is that LOL button when I need it!?

 

[Bradypus]

I seriously doubt it, sip-sip, I have a lead of many, many litres, sip-sip. SY

I have gone full circle. I am back in Hontanas: the village where a Spanish pilgrim I had met just that morning in 1990 introduced me to patxaran. Raising my glass to that man with many thanks!

 

[domigee]

I have gone full circle. I am back in Hontanas: the village where a Spanish pilgrim I had met just that morning in 1990 introduced me to patxaran. Raising my glass to that man with many thanks!

For me it was in Torres del Río on my 1st camino.
¡Salud!