VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Many wildlife species use Sambucus spp. for food [41,64].  It provides
valuable cover, perching, and nesting sites; its fruit provides food for
many species of birds including bluebirds, magpies, warbling vireo,
western tanager, house finch, green-tailed towhee, woodpeckers,
grosbeaks, Townsend solitaire, grouse, quail, pheasant, and hummingbirds
who visit flowers for nectar [19,25,41,75,90].  It also provides cover
and food for other wildlife including rabbits, squirrels, foxes,
woodchucks, chipmunks, ground squirrels, woodrats, mice [41], and
ring-tailed cats in California riparian zones [2].  Early in the year
blue elderberry is less palatable and thus unimportant as browse for
domestic livestock [9,65].  Mule deer also show seasonal preferences for
blue elderberry [37].  When fed to captive mule deer in Utah from May 1
to September 30, it was a preferred food [73].  It was used throughout
the period, but with highest use early in May and again in August and
September.  Captive mule deer used blue elderberry lightly in the winter
[71,74].  Elk use blue elderberry both summer and fall [77,95].
Seasonal mule deer use varies by community type with highest use in
October in the aspen (Populus tremuloides) and spruce-fir (Picea
engelmanni-Abies concolor) types and in July in the shrub-browse type
[72].  Blue elderberry is a more important deer browse than red
elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) [73].


PALATABILITY : 
Blue elderberry is a palatable browse plant that is sought and consumed
in excess of its relative importance in the vegetative community by elk
[37,95] and deer [72].  In the spring the foliage of blue elderberry may
be strongly scented when bruised and less palatable.  By fall,
especially following frost, it sweetens and becomes more palatable
[9,58].  The highly palatable buds and dried fruit are used in winter by
big game animals [58].

The degree of use shown by livestock and wildlife species for blue
elderberry in several western states is rated as follows [10,65,77]:

                  ID        CO      MT      UT      WY         CA
Cattle         mod-good    fair    fair    fair    ----       fair
Sheep          mod-good    fair    good    good    ----     good-fair
Horses           ----      fair    poor    poor    ----       ----
Goats            ----      ----    ----    ----    ----       good
Pronghorn        ----      ----    ----    poor    poor       ----
Elk              good      ----    ----    good    fair       ----
Mule deer        ----      ----    ----    good    good       ----
White-tailed
deer             ----      ----    ----    ----    good       ----
Deer             ----      ----    ----    ----    ----     good-poor
Small mammals    ----      ----    fair    good    fair       ----
Small nongame 
birds            ----      good    fair    good    good       ----
Upland game 
birds            ----      ----    fair    good    good       ----
Waterfowl        ----      ----    ----    poor    poor       ----
Black bear     mod-poor    ----    ----    ----    ----       ----


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
Blue elderberry's energy value is rated as fair and its protein value as
poor [10].  Gordon and Sampson [17] list specific values for total ash,
silica, silica-free ash, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, crude protein,
and crude fiber for plant parts sampled during two growing seasons.
Protein values are high in the early leaf stage and decrease with
maturity.  Potassium and phosphorus contents also decrease with
maturity, while ash and calcium contents increase.  Blue elderberry is
important as late season browse because of a fairly high level of
protein and essential inorganics when herbaceous plants are at their
lowest nutritional ebb.


COVER VALUE : 
Blue elderberry provides nesting habitat for a number of bird species in
Arizona including the Dusky flycatcher, MacGillivary warbler,
orange-crowned warbler, broad-tailed hummingbird, white-crowned sparrow,
and Lincoln sparrow [4].  It also provides nest cover and nest support
for the Least Bell's Vireo [18].

The degree to which blue elderberry provides environmental protection
during one or more seasons for wildlife species is as follows [10].

                        MT        UT        WY

Pronghorn              ----      poor      poor
Elk                    ----      fair      fair
Mule deer              ----      good      good
White-tailed deer      ----      ----      good
Small mammals          poor      good      fair
Small nongame birds    poor      good      good
Upland game birds      poor      good      fair
Waterfowl              ----      poor      poor


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Blue elderberry has been selected for planting in the Intermountain West
because of its forage and cover value, productivity, adaptability, and
ease of establishment [58,59].  It is also a useful ground cover for
stabilizing eroding sites [58].  It is adapted for use in the forested,
northern desert shrub, pinyon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus spp.), and
mountain brush zones [43,58,76].  In Oregon and California it is being
used for riparian plantings [5,15] and streambank stabilization
plantings [39]. Seeding blue elderberry may improve forage production in
some disturbed Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) communities in Utah [81].

Blue elderberry seeds may be planted directly, or seedlings and 1- to
2-year old stock may be transplanted.  It also grows from cuttings and
rootstocks [58,75].  Best establishment in Utah has been obtained by
direct seeding [58], but establishment can be erratic [59].  Ratings of
suitability include [58]:
                                Very            Medium           Very
                                Good    Good    or Fair   Poor   Poor

Initial establishment                                      X
Growth rate                      X
Final establishment              X
Persistence                      X
Germination                                                       X
Seed production and
   handling                                       X
Planting ease                            X
Natural spread                                    X
Herbage yield                    X
Availability of
   current growth                        X
Soil stability                           X
Range of adaptation                      X
Resistance to disease
   and insects                   X
Compatibility with 
   other plants                  X
Ease of transplanting                    X                  

Studies of reclaimed mining sites give specific information about
planting methods and survival.  In a Utah coal field at Alton it had a
survival rate of 68 percent, but only reached 18 inches (46 cm) 6 years
after planting [13].  Blue elderberry had difficulty on untreated acid
spoils in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California with survival rates
of 23 percent for the first year and 10 percent by the third year.  In
competition with seeded grass no blue elderberry survived.  On mine
spoils the shade of blue elderberry may aid the establishment of other
species [43].  Initial survival was good on Montana roadcuts, but
decreased to 30 percent after 4 years and to one plant after 9 years
[29].  Factors that influenced this mortality appeared to be the hot,
dry slopes and infertile, rocky soil.


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
The fruit of blue elderberry is frequently gathered for wine, jellies,
candy, pies, and sauces [49,60] and it is cultivated commercially in
Oregon.  Native Americans gathered the fruit to cook, dry, or to eat
raw.  They used a liquid made from the flowers and leaves for medicinal
purposes [86].  In the spring the young vegetative sprouts can be cooked
and eaten; however, some caution should be used in eating elderberries
since other species in the genus contain a cyanogenetic glycoside and an
alkaloid that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal
pain [33,80].  The berries contain very little of these substances,
while the roots contain enough to cause death in hogs, and intermediate
amounts are found in the stems.  A dye can be made from the bark and an
insecticide from the dried leaves of elderberry [60].  The name Sambucus
is derived from the Greek sambuca which was a stringed instrument
supposed to be made from elder wood.  The hollow stems have been
fashioned into flutes and blowguns.  The wood is hard and has been used
for combs, spindles, and pegs [49].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Browsing:  Blue elderberry is persistant and recovers well from heavy
grazing in the Great Basin [43,58].  In Oregon grasslands grazing
pressure may cause it to decrease, and in the mountains of northern New
Mexico blue elderberry may increase from 5 percent to 20 percent under
grazing pressure on various sites [91].

Competition:  In the Douglas-fir/twinflower-pinegrass (Pseudotsuga
menziesii/Linnaea borealis-Calamagrostis rubescens) habitat type,
clear-cutting or seed tree cutting with high soil surface disturbance
caused by dozer scarification and slash removal favors blue elderberry
and leads to a blue elderberry-prickly currant/elk sedge (Sambucus
cerulea-Ribes lacustre/Carex geyeri) seral community type [22].

Chemical control:  Picloram pellets are moderately effective on blue
elderberry [8].

Related categories for Species: Sambucus cerulea | Blue Elderberry