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Vascular Plants of California
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Sambucus
ELDERBERRY


Higher Taxonomy
Family: ViburnaceaeView DescriptionDichotomous Key

Common Name: MUSKROOT FAMILY
Habit: [Perennial herb], subshrub to tree; hairs often stellate or glandular. Leaf: generally opposite, simple or compound, generally toothed; stipules generally 0. Flower: generally bisexual; calyx teeth or lobes [2]5; corolla small, radial, rotate, lobes [3--4]5; stamens [4]5, epipetalous; ovary +- inferior, chambers 1 or 3--5, 1-ovuled; styles +- 0 or 3--5. Fruit: drupe.
Genera In Family: 5 genera, 200 species: especially northern temperate, also South America, southeastern Asia, tropical Africa. Note: Incl in Caprifoliaceae in TJM (1993), and possibly in future. Viburnaceae adopted as a conserved name in 2016 [Taxon 65(4):878--879, August 2016], so must be used instead of Adoxaceae for all taxa previously said to belong to Adoxaceae.
eFlora Treatment Author: Charles D. Bell, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Sambucus
Habit: Generally shrub to small tree, deciduous; main trunk generally 0. Stem: pith large, spongy. Leaf: 1(2)-odd-pinnately compound; leaflets serrate. Inflorescence: panicle of cymes, terminal, generally +- dome-shaped. Flower: ovary chambers 3--5, ovules pendent; style +- 0, stigma lobes 3--5. Fruit: drupe, berry-like. Seed: 3--5.
Species In Genus: 20 species: temperate, subtropics some cultivated as ornamental. Etymology: (Greek: for stringed instrument made from wood of genus) Toxicity: Toxic in quantity (except cooked fruits).
Jepson eFlora Author: Charles D. Bell
Reference: Bolli 1994 Diss Bot 223:1--256
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
Key to Sambucus

Previous taxon: Viburnaceae
Next taxon: Sambucus mexicana

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Citation for this treatment: Charles D. Bell 2022, Sambucus, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 10, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=10321, accessed on April 18, 2024.

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.