Elder (Sambucus nigra)

The flowers are fragrant and provide an uplifting splash of colour from mid spring through the summer. Elder is known as ‘the medicine tree’ and all parts of the plant can be used as medicine: root, bark, leaves, flowers, and berries. Whilst the different parts have different medicinal effects, the properties of Elder range from a mild diuretic, to a strong purge to the bowels, which was used frequently in the ‘heroic age’ of herbal medicine. The flowers are an excellent diaphoretic (sweating agent) which can be employed, along with yarrow and mint, during fever. The berries make a delightful ‘rob’, which is a type of runny jam. It can of course be thickened by the addition of pectin, and contains large amounts of Vitamin C.

Elder produces large white umbels which attract a host of insects and pollinators, and thus birds, into the garden. The bark is rough and provides micro- niches for fauna. Often Elder is seed dispersed through bird droppings, so it is not unusual to find a tree by a fence. It propagates vegetatively quite easily. The wood is pulpy and not very good for burning. 

In folklore, the Medicine Crone, or Elder Mother (Hilder- Moer) inhabits the tree. This quote is from Glennie Kindred (who in turn probably discovered this information from Mrs. Grieves: A Modern Herbal):

There are very strong superstitions about not cutting down the elder. Maybe a fear of releasing that malevolent spirit or maybe a deep respect for this tree, which gives so much by way of medicines, food and drink. Early European folk tales tell of a dryad, Hylde-moer, The Elder Tree Mother, who lives in the elder tree and watches over it. Should the tree be chopped down and furniture made of the wood, Hylde-moer would follow her property and haunt the owners. Similar tales tell that if a child's cradle were to be made of elder, Hylde-moer would pinch the child black and blue and give it no peace or rest. Thus it is considered unlucky to make a cradle out of elder wood - birch being the property wood for a cradle, signifying a new start or inception. 

The association of the tree with death is palpable. I accidentally chain- sawed an Elder tree down when I was felling in the woods, and the stench of (presumably), valerianic acid was quite enough to send a shiver down the spine. This, coupled with the formidable 'heroic' herbal medicine applications (encouraging emesis, purgation) during the pyretic phase of fever, and its connection with Halloween and the dark side of the year, are more than enough to instill a supernatural respect.