4 Elderberry: Botany, Horticulture, Potential Denis Charlebois Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Horticultural Research and Development Centre 430 Gouin Boulevard Saint-Iean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, J3B 3E6 Canada Patrick 1. Byers Cooperative Extension Service University of Missouri Springfield, MO 65802 Chad E. Finn Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service 3420 NW Orchard Avenue Corvallis, OR 97330 Andrew1. Thomas Southwest Research Center University of Missouri 14548 Highway H Mt. Vernon, MO 65712 1. INTRODUCTION II. BOTANY A. Taxonomy B. Distribution 1. Sambucus canadensis 2. Sambucus nigra Horticultural Reviews, Volume 37 Edited by Jules Janick Copyright © 2010Wiley-Blackwell. 213 214 D. CHARLEBOIS, P. 1. BYERS, C. E. FINN, AND A. 1. THOMAS 4. ELDERBERRY: BOTANY, HORTICULTURE, POTENTIAL 215 C. Habitat 3. Fruit D. Morphology 4. Antiviral and Antimicrobial Properties E. Reproductive Biology 5. Anthocyanins and Antioxidant Capacity 1. Pollination F. Ecological Value and Ornamental Potential 2. Fruit Ripening G. Markets and Production Costs F. Plant Development H. Processing III. HORTICULTURE VI. CONCLUDING REMARKS A. Winter Hardiness LITERATURE CITED 1. Sambucus canadensis 2. Sambucus nigra B. Site Selection and Preparation 1. Soil Preference I. INTRODUCTION 2. Site Preparation 3. Irrigation The elderberry or elder (Sambucus spp.), in production or growing wild C. Orchard Establishment in the northernhemisphere, mayhave the widestrange of applications of D. Fertilization and Mycorrhizae all small fruits. Members of the genus Sambucus have a multitude of E. Pruning 1. Maintenance uses, including riverbank stabilization and windbreaks (Paquet and 2. Rejuvenation Jutras 1996); wildlife food and refuge; ornamental, crafts, and games; 3. Corrective versatile human food source, and multipurpose medicinal (Valles F. Weed Control et al.2004). Although the scientific documentation related to elder­ G. Pests and Diseases berries has increased over the last two decades, few reviews have been 1. Insects 2. Mammals and Birds published. Martin and Mott (1997) reviewed the selection, cultivation, 3. Fungal, Viral, and Bacterial Diseases and management of American elderberry for wildlife and habitat man­ 4. Abiotic Stress agement. More recently, the ecology of the European elderberry in the H. Harvest British Isles was thoroughly reviewed by Atkinson and Atkinson (2002). I. Yield Finally, Charlebois (2007) reviewed the medicinal properties of elder­ 1. Sambucus canadensis 2. Sambucus nigra berries, some of which were already mentioned in Dioscorides' Materia IV. PROPAGATION Medica, written around the first century cs.Despite a well-established A. Selection and Breeding commercial production in many countries of Europe and an increasing B. Seed Propagation interest in North America, little attention has been paid to the horticul­ 1. Seed Germination tural aspects of this genus and its potential as a food and a medicinal 2. Planting crop. Recent works linking an antioxidant-rich diet to disease preven­ C. Vegetative Propagation 1. Hardwood Cuttings tion (Prior 2003; Willcox et al. 2004; Scalbert et al. 2005; Zafra-Stone 2. Softwood Cuttings et al. 2007; Seeram 2008), along with the versatility of elderberry as a 3. Root Cuttings crop, a food, and a medicine, have generated a renewed interest in this 4. Micropropagation genus. This chapter reviews European and American elderberries. V. USES A. Folklore B. Utilitarian C. Food II. BOTANY 1. Chemical Composition and Nutritive Value 2. Toxicity D. Traditional Medicine A. Taxonomy E. Modern Medicine 1. Leaf American and European elderberries have been harvested by native 2. Flower people since before recorded history andhave beenwritten about around 216 D. CHARLEBOIS, P. 1. BYERS, C. E. FINN, AND A. 1. THOMAS 4. ELDERBERRY: BOTANY, HORTICULTURE, POTENTIAL 217 Table 4.1. Vernacular names of Sambucus nigra and Sambucus canadensis. is not unusual to find some confusion on delimiting species, subspecies, and varieties in regional floras (Bailey and Bailey 1976; Brinkman and Language Sambucus nigra Sambucus canadensis Johnson 200S) even in the scientific literature. Ourecky (1970) stressed English black elderberry, bour tree, bore tree, American elder(berry), bourtree, more than 30 years ago the necessity of a taxonomic clarification of the elder, common elder, European Canada elder, eastern elderberry, genus Sambucus. elder elderberry, common elder, sweet Bolli (1994) recently proposed a revision of Sambucus in which the elder, pie elder, elder-blow, blackberry elder, Mexican elder phylogenetic tree was simplifiedbysubmerging many species to the rank French arbre de Judas, grand sureau, haut sureau blanc, sureau du Canada, of subspecies. By emphasizing morphological similarities within the bois, sambequier, sambuquier, sirop blanc group, Bolli (1994) concluded that only nine species are reputed to be sampechier, seu, seuillet, part of this genus. He also proposed giving the two most economically seuillon, sureau, sureau commun, important members of the genus, the European elderberry (S. nigra L.) sureau noir, sus, suseau, susier Afrikaans Kanadese vlier and the American elderberry (S. canadensis 1.), the status of subspecies. Danish almindelig hyld Accordingto Bolli (1994), they shouldbe designated as S. nigra ssp. nigra German Flieder, memeine Holunder, (1.) R. Bolli (European elderberry) and S. nigra ssp. canadensis (1.) R. Holunder, schwarzer Flieder, Bolli (American elderberry). Because Bolli's work lacks molecular in­ schwarzer Holunder formation, the scientific and horticultural communities have been re­ Hungarian fekete bodza Italian sambuco, sambuco nero, sambuco luctant to adopt the new terminology. According to the U.S. Department nostrale, zambuco, zambuco of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) germplasm arboreo resources information network (GRIN) (USDA 200Sa), 14 Sambucus Polish bez czarny species are recognized, and the names S. nigra (European elderberry) Portuguese sabugueiro, sabugueiro negro, sabugueiro do Canada and S. canadensis (American elderberry) should be used, a recommen­ sabugueiro preto Russian 4epeH 6b3 dation widely followed in the literature (European and Mediterranean Spanish saiico, canillero, cafiilero, linsusa, sauco del Canada Plant Protection Organization 200S; UDSA, ARS, National Genetic sabuco, sabugo, saiico blanco, Resources Program 200sb) and used in this study. The results reported sauquero, sayugo, yezgo by Clarke and Tobutt (2006) in their study on microsatellite primers tend Source: Sanchez-Mongo y Parellada 1980; Wunderlin and Hansen 2008; www. to support the idea that American and European elderberries are two telabotanica.org/eflore/BDNFF/4.02/nn/60241/vernaculaire. different species. Furthermore, it shouldbe noted thatnumerous authors, such as Yatskievych (2006), disagree with Bolli's (1994) revision. The genus Sambucus is most often included with the Caprifoliaceae the world for centuries, leading to a plethora of vernacular names (Guangwan et al. 200S; Hu et al. 200S). Bolli (1994) asserted that it (Table 4.1). The generic name Sambucus is apparently derived from the possesses enough distinctive characteristics to warrant the recognition Greek word sambuke or the Latin word sambuca, which designates of a new family, the Sambucaceae. Except for some rare cases (Gasson either a kind of flute that was made out of elderberry twig (Marie­ 1979; Gustafsson 1995), this proposal has not been pursued. However, Victorin 1935) or a small harp (Rich lS59). Members of the Sambucus the genus was recentlywithdrawn from the Caprifoliaceae and placed in are small trees, shrubs, or herbs (Fernald 1970). Since no definitive the Adoxaceae (Backlund and Bremer 1997; Donoghue et al. 2001; taxonomic DNA studies have been conducted, and because species of Donoghue et al. 2003), an affiliation supported by plastid gene sequenc­ this genus are difficult to delimit based solely on morphological char­ ing (Savolainen et al. 2000) but not supported by Fourier transform acteristics, no clear consensus has been reached about the exact number infrared spectroscopy analysis (Hao et al. 2007). The exact taxonomical of species it contains. Depending on the author, it can range from 9 to 40 position of the genus Sambucus is likely to be continually debated as (Bailey 1930; Marie-Victorin 1935; Lawrence 1951; Elias 19S0; Hickey new methods are developed and more specimens are submitted to and King 19S1; Stang 1990; Bolli 1994; Dzhangaliev et al. 2003). Thus, it genetic analysis. .......------------------------- 218 D. CHARLEBOIS, P. 1. BYERS, C. E. FINN, AND A. 1. THOMAS 4. ELDERBERRY: BOTANY, HORTICULTURE, POTENTIAL 219 B. Distribution temperature is around 7°C, which is probably li~iting for se~d mat,ura­ tion (Atkinson and Atkinson 2002). It has been introduced in vanous 1..Sambucus canadensis. The American elderberry is native to eastern parts ofthe world, such as North America, East Asia, New Zealand, ~nd North America, and fossilized seeds canbe traced backmore than 16,000 South Australia (Hulten and Fries 1986; Kabuce 2007). A detailed years (Kneller and Peteet 1999). It is found from Florida, 25°N distribution map can be found in Atkinson and Atkinson (2002). (Deam 1924; Bailey 1930; Allenetal. 2002; Wunderlin andHansen 2008), in the United States to the northern part of the Gaspe coast of Quebec in Canada, 49°N (Environnement Canada 2002), which marks the northern C. Habitat limit of its natural distribution.