Sambucus nigra

Deciduous shrub or small tree to c. 6 m high, more or less glabrous; branches striate, lenticellate. Leaves petiolate, mostly 5–25 cm long; leaflets 3 or 5, ovate to elliptic, mostly 4–8 cm long and 15–45 mm wide, glabrescent, apex acute to acuminate, base obtuse, rarely asymmetric, margins serrate in upper two-thirds; petiole 2–5 cm long; petiolules 2–4 mm long. Inflorescences cymose panicles, 5–20 cm diam., much-branched; bracts ovate, to c. 1 mm long. Sepals usually 5, ovate, c. 0.5 mm long, glabrous; petals usually 5, 2.5–3 mm long, shortly connate, yellowish or white. Drupe more or less globose, c. 5 mm long, black, shiny. Flowers mainly Oct.–Jan.